Once In A Lifetime
by Isawien Malfoy
Summary: After Nick’s rescue, and subsequent events Sara leaves Vegas on a Leave of Absence to find herself. She ends up in Boston at the Coroner’s Office. There she finds familiar faces and the possibility of love once more.
1. Prologue

**Title:** Once in a Lifetime

**Author:** Daydream Bear aka Isáwien

**Rating:** M (for a bit of language)

**Shows:** CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, Crossing Jordan, and a brief mention of Las Vegas.

**Summary:** After Nick's rescue, and subsequent events, Sara leaves Vegas on a Leave of Absence to find herself and ends up in Boston at the Coroner's Office. There she finds familiar faces and the possibility of love once more.

**Author Notes:** Ok notes for this story

1) in the CSI universe, this takes place immediately after Grave Danger, there is one change to established timelines for the lives of those in the show, the Spring Break Sara told Grissom about in Unfriendly Skies, for this story took place March of 1992 instead of 1993.

2) in the Crossing Jordan universe, Sara first arrives in Boston, it is about a few weeks after Forget Me Not and a few weeks before Push Jump Fall (I know they might not have been that far apart in the series timeline, but it just works best that way for this.

3) Men may wish to turn away during this note…. (it deals with PMS)

ok, I'm not a medical expert, but I know that it is common for a woman to skip her monthly cycle for months at a time (runs in my family actually). And our doctors have told us to not come in until we've skipped a fifth month. (lovely fun). Anyway, so that is a real thing. The rest of the condition described in this story is basically my, and a few friends', interpretation of what could happen. The running theory is, needless to say not having your cycle for months at a time before having it, there would be quite the build-up of the lining if you go as many as five months without shedding said lining. At the same time, it could be believed that when a woman finally does have an actual month where she has her cycle in the complete sense (and not possibly just the elevated hormone levels and mood swings), they might not be able to shed all the built-up linings… Like I said, I'm not a doctor. But for the sake of this story… I'm going to be a pain and kinda mess with what is established and work with this, it may not be medically sound, but it makes sense at least to ten people I know of. So I'm going to go with it (if anyone has better ideas, ect, please let me know.

At the same time, going on this thought that a woman can skip up to five months without really questioning it because of a lifetime of doing so, and building up five months of linings then possible not being able to shed all those linings in simply one month of having a full cycle (perhaps they need a second or third month in a row to completely clean out the system as it were), one would expect that having that build-up could be a bit dangerous when the woman does become pregnant. Going on that idea, going to figure the obstetrician and gynecologist might be of the belief that as soon as they realize their patient is pregnant, they would want to cut out a number of things in order to ensure there is a better likelihood for the child to make it. (no stress, adequate rest and such being something I think of…. And to be honest, imagine flying six hours wouldn't be a good idea. It always seems to be a pain when someone is pregnant normally, throwing in the added aspects of this insanity…. –shrug– once again, know this may not be medically sound… but I'm going with it ok? Just wanted to let you all know now. The story just works well this way. Yell at me later k?

Ok now, onto the story lol

**Final Note**: A special thank you goes out to my dear friend, beta, sounding board, and all around irreplacable friend Caro. Thanks girl!

* * *

**:-:-:-:-:-:  
****Prologue  
****:-:-:-:-:-:**

**:-:-:-:-:-:**

**Monday June 26th, 2006  
****Las Vegas, Nevada  
****LVPD Crime Lab  
****7:15 p.m. (PST)**

**:-:-:-:-:-:**

"Have a great day alright love?"

"I'll try. Tell Buggles and Garret hi for me."

"Always. Call me when you get off?"

"Promise, I love you."

"Love you too sweetheart."

Hanging up the phone, Sara took a deep breath before opening the door. After stepping into the air-conditioned lobby, she looked around, surprised at how little had changed in the thirteen months she'd been gone. A few new names on the Employee of the Month plaques, a new picture for June… she paused to smile at the sight of Jacqui's face.

Turning she took a moment to sign in with the Swing Shift Receptionist, before quickly making her way through the lab, none of Night Shift was there yet, she being almost three hours early for her first night back. But she had forms to fill out and have ready when she went to speak with the man who had been her boss before her leave of absence, and she wanted to get them completely filled out before she did that. Especially after the night before.

Once she had the required paperwork, she barricaded herself into one of the empty labs and didn't look up until she was done, two hours later according to her watch. Gathering the papers together she slipped them into a folder and headed out into the hallway, by now Grissom should be there, and she could get this done and over with before shift actually started.

He was sitting in his office, looking at paperwork, and once more she was caught by how familiar that scene was. But at the same time, she recognized how it didn't affect her anymore as it once did. Once she would have smiled, and daydreamed a bit about what would be if he would just let her in. Now… now she didn't want that anymore, all she saw was a man she couldn't help but feel sorry for, knowing all the things he had missed out on in life - could still miss out on. But he was happy with his life; it was his choice, just as she had to make her own choices for her life. She had chosen happiness, chosen the risk. She could only hope that someday he'd find a reason to take the risk and really live.

Shaking her thoughts away, Sara stepped into the doorway before raising her hand to knock once on the doorjamb. At first he didn't respond, before looking up over the top of his glasses. Then his head came up, an expression of surprise, a frown, before he shook his head and a smile spread over her face.

"Sara Sidle, I thought you were due back Monday,"

"It _is_ Monday Gil," she countered gently when she realized he wasn't going to mention the night before, seeing the surprise in his eyes at the use of his first name. Moving into the room, she handed him her folder before sitting down as he looked at the manila file in his hands.

"What's this?" he asked with a frown as he read the papers. With his flipping through them all so fast, she wasn't sure which one he was talking about, and remained silent for him to continue. Then when the look of complete shock registered on his face, she realized what papers he _had_ been talking about, and what papers he was _now_ looking at.

"You're putting in your official notice, offering four weeks, and you're putting in for a lightened load due to medical restrictions? After you stayed gone an additional seven months?" he asked finally looking up to stare at her. "Good God Sara, I agreed to your LOA when we were already understaffed because you said you'd be coming back!"

Sara frowned at the accusation in his voice, "_Actually_, I said I _might_ come back," she countered.

* * *

Please Review and let me know what you think about this one. What happened a year ago will be explained next chapter, which will be up Sunday, then we're going to start having updates once a weekon Thursdays. :-) 


	2. Chapter 1

Hey, ok so we're going back to see what just happened a year ago :-)

**

* * *

**

**:-:-:-:-:-:  
Chapter 1  
:-:-:-:-:-:**

**:-:-:-:-:-:**

**Saturday May 21st, 2005  
****Las Vegas, Nevada  
****LVPD Crime Lab  
****8:45 p.m. (PST)**

**:-:-:-:-:-:**

"You can't be serious Sara!" Grissom yelled as he stood up from his desk.

"It's not the end of the world, nor is this the first time I've applied for a Leave of Absence," Sara countered evenly as she stared at him.

"And that one lasted a few days before ending up in the back of your file."

"A plant isn't going to stop me this time," Sara answered evenly.

"Really?" he asked with a slight smirk

"I'm serious Griss, it's either this or my resignation… I need a break."

"We're already short-staffed Sara, with everything with Nick."

"I know that," Sara snapped, "I was there just like everyone else. But I can't stay here. I need a break from Vegas… and you," she added softly.

"Sara…" he began sitting down with a thud.

"It's your choice Griss," Sara answered as she rose, setting another piece of paper next to her L.O.A. form – her resignation. "At least with the leave of absence, there's a chance I might come back."

He looked at both papers before sighing, and finally adding his name to her Leave of Absence. "Thank you," Sara spoke softly before taking back her resignation.

"I'm sorry Sara," his whispered words reached her just as she opened the door.

"So am I Griss, so am I," she responded before leaving the room, never having turned to look at him.

The shift that night was spent finalizing paperwork for her leave of absence, and finishing the paperwork she needed to get done, as well as arranging her cases to be given to the next person, making sure her notes and such were readable. Within two hours of the end of shift, she was heading home, having said goodbye to the guys in her own way. They'd find out she was gone Tuesday, seeing as she was scheduled for two days off as it was.

After a quick stop at the hospital, and leaving a card for Nick since he wasn't allowed visitors yet – she headed home. As soon as she walked through the door, she contacted her manager and took care of ending her lease. The rest of the morning was spent calling U-Haul and the local storage facilities, contacting her utility companies and arranging for shut-offs and finally going on her computer to see about a job.

She was happily surprised, thrilled really, when she opened her e-mail and found one from the Boston Police Department's Coroner's Office. She had applied for an opening at the lab once more, having been accepted. She had every intention of returning to Boston, until Grissom had called and she ended up in Vegas instead. After she had made her decision to leave, she'd contacted them upon seeing they had an opening for an A.M.E. True it had been a number of years since she had worked as an Assistant Medical Examiner, but she had kept her certificates up to date, and the fact she worked in the number two Crime Lab in the country helped her along greatly.

After sending off an e-mail to the Chief Medical Examiner, saying she'd be there to fill out her paperwork, a week from Monday, she searched for a place in the area, and was happy to find a nice studio apartment in Malden. A phone call had the place reserved for her, with plans for her to sign the papers and move in Friday. When she was done, she turned her attention to packing.

The next day and a half was spent sorting; the majority of her furniture being put on the list of things to stay in storage in Vegas, though her bed and bedding were at the top of the list of things to head for the dump. Since that morning she hadn't been able to bring herself to sleep in them, instead sleeping on her couch. She happily threw away her take-out menus and sorted through her clothing, packing some to go with her, leaving others to remain in Vegas – either in storage or for donation.

Monday afternoon came, and she drove the rented U-Haul truck to storage, accompanied by a few of the neighbor teenage boys. Once everything was in storage, they headed back to the complex, stopping to treat the guys to dinner at McDonalds and then to exchange the truck for her trailer – she having had one of the more trustworthy boys drive her car, his grandmother would have killed him if anything happened to her car... When they got back to the complex, she gave the boys ten dollars each for helping as well, before setting to loading the trailer. Though she wasn't necessarily surprised to have the boys come back after a few minutes to help.

The next morning she handed her keys over to the manager, and said goodbye to the few people she did know in her complex. She was in Denver by nightfall and on the road early Wednesday morning. Thursday morning saw her leaving Chicago and reaching Boston that night – She'd never been so glad to be in a hotel room knowing she'd only have an hour to drive the next morning.

Friday morning she arrived at Archstone Park Place, and after signing the paperwork and receiving her keys, she set to unloading her trailer before heading to drop off the trailer, then to the closest Rent-to-Own. After selecting furniture for her bedroom, living room, and dining room, she made arrangements for delivery the next day, and arranged for cable hook-up Monday morning, both internet and TV. Then she headed towards an old friend. Cambridge.

She made an evening of it, shopping at the CambridgeSide Galleria and getting little things she'd need: bedding, dishes, cooking ware… She was bound and determined to not fall back into her habit of living off of take-out. She enjoyed a pretzel from Pretzel Time, Sour cream and Onion, her all time favorite, and something she hadn't had in far too many years, and checked out cell phone plans for the area, though she planned to wait until she found out if the M.E.'s office had a employee plan or not.

Friday night was spent sleeping in a sleeping bag on an air mattress, after unpacking as much as possible. Saturday morning came far too early for her, but with the early morning delivery of her furniture, Sara got down to the task of arranging her new home to her liking. After her new bed was made, she promptly collapsed into it, not moving until nearly noon on Sunday. Finally rising, she went shopping, and that night she cooked her first meal in her now home – Salad.

**:-:-:-:-:-:**

**Monday May 30th, 2005  
****Malden, Massachusetts  
****Sidle Residence  
****2:15 p.m. (EST)**

**:-:-:-:-:-:**

Monday morning she waited for the cable guy to hook it up, then had lunch, leftover salad, while she set up a new e-mail account and checked the mail in her old one. She wasn't surprised to see messages from Warrick and Greg, though the one from Catherine did surprise her a bit. She debated what to do as she ate for a few minutes before finally setting her plate aside and turning her attention back to her laptop.

****

**_To: W­Brown (at) LVPD. com, GSanders (at) LVPD. com, CWillows (at)LVPD. com, GGrissom(a) LVPD. com, JBrass(at) LVPD. com _**

**_From: Sara. Sidle (at) hotmail. com _**

**_Subject: Hi Guys _**

_**Hey guys, just a quick note to let you know I'm safe and sound. I'm settled, I'm not going to say where cause in all honesty I really need a break. Though I won't say not to pull any stunts like tracking my ISP and finding out where I am. Ten to one someone already has Archie doing that (which by the way, hi Arch).**_

_**I have to run, I have an appointment to get to. Take care and tell Nick hi for me.**_

_**Sara**_

Content with her e-mail, she hit send before shutting her laptop down. Grabbing her purse she headed back to the car and made her way into Boston and the Medical Examiner's Office.

Dr. Macy, the Chief Medical Examiner, who she had heard so much about, wasn't there. Nor were the majority of his staff, all out on a major scene. Instead she was met by Lily Lebowski, the Grief Counselor for the Office. Lily had all the paperwork for her, and let her use her office to fill it out. By the time she was done, everyone was back – she had heard them returning over the last hour as they walked past Lily's office.

Thanking Lily, she followed the directions the other woman gave to Dr. Macy's office; she could see him inside and knocked on the door twice.

"Come in."

"Dr. Macy?" she began as she opened the door, "Sara Sidle," she continued as he rose from his desk.

"Ms. Sidle, of course. Lily said you were here," he began as he offered his hand. "I'm sorry I wasn't here when you arrived."

"That's alright," Sara smiled. "I know how it is. I think I've got everything done, if you want to go over it."

"Of course. Please, have a seat."

"Thank you," Sara nodded before sitting.

The next forty minutes were spent going over papers, discussing her past employment, experience, and her reasons for leaving Vegas. He had looked at her odd when she mentioned she had always wanted to work for him after hearing so much about him when she went to Harvard – but he hadn't asked.

Once everything was done, he gave her a tour of the lab, introducing her to major players in the lab - and her fellow doctors. One of the things she hadn't told those in Vegas, though to be honest they hadn't really been talking much in the last months, she had completed her doctorate online so technically she was a doctor now, even if she didn't have a medical doctorate yet. The first person she met was Bug, or Dr. Mahesh Vijayaraghavensatyanamurthy. She decided Bug was definitely more appropriate name. And when she'd commented on the timeline he was working on, he had looked at her before grinning and asking if she was an entomologist. When she'd explained that no, she knew one, she could see the questions in his eyes before being pulled away by Macy. She knew that would be an interesting conversation later.

Next she had met Sidney Trumaine, who was on his way to autopsy. Then she 'met' Dr. Cavanaugh, who had quickly told her to call her Jordan. It was only then that Jordan looked up from the file and actually saw what Sara looked like.

"Oh my God," Jordan began shocked. "I know you… Sara," she continued before frowning, obviously trying to place where she knew Sara from before Sara smiled and ducked her head slightly. "Oh _my_ God! Sara! My God it's been years."

Sara laughed at both the confused look on Macy's face, and the fact she was being hugged like there was no tomorrow. "Wait, you two know each other?" Macy asked after a moment.

"God yes, this girl went to Harvard… I met her before I left Boston," Jordan grinned

"It's been about twelve-years. I met Jordan through my boyfriend at the time Dr. Macy," Sara explained.

"Garret," he corrected before shrugging. "Well then, at least you are going to know someone here then Sara."

"Two people actually," Jordan grinned. "That man is going to be shocked to see you girl."

"What man?" Garret asked as Sara just frowned at Jordan.

"Our resident Brit of course," Jordan answered before Sara's mouth dropped open.

"Nigel is still here?" she asked surprised.

"Like the man has ever left," Jordan smiled. "Come on, we have to surprise him," she continued grabbing Sara's arm, and pulling her along, leaving Garret behind to look after them still trying to figure out what just happened.

"Slow down Jordon," Sara argued as they went down another hallway. "Just what do you have in mind in the first place? I haven't seen him since I was twenty-two years old Cavanaugh, haven't seen you since then either if you remember correctly. Something tells me this is going to give him a heart attack and you _entirely_ too much fun."

"Oh you think? I've been looking forward to having something to shock the man with for years," Jordan grinned evilly before stopping in front of a door to a lab. Inside Sara could make out a head bopping up and down, shoulder-length black hair swinging back and forth. "Hey Nige!" Jordan called as she opened the door and his head shot up and around to look at her.

"Jordan love, I don't have anything for you yet," he began immediately.

"That's ok, I've actually got something for you," Jordan smirked

"Really now? Anything I need to be keeping secret from the priest love?" he grinned.

"Well, that's none of my business now isn't it," Jordan countered before glancing at Sara who was shaking her head. "So, let's play remember when."

"Alright Jor, I'll play along. Though you have to share what you've been drinking later," Nigel shrugged.

"The answer to that is simply coffee Nige. Now, its 1992, I'm a new M.E. here at the morgue and you're the newest Criminalist. Garret is going crazy having to deal with both of us. I'm going through a string of men and you're dating one woman in particular, what was her name?"

"Sara Lynn," he answered without missing a beat. "And this is relating to this thing you have for me how?"

"Let's just call it a blast from your past," Jordan grinned before turning to walk away. "Oh and it's in the hallway for you," she called over her shoulder.

"Bloody girl is loosing her mind," Nigel muttered before rising and heading towards the doorway, stopping in surprise at the sight that greeted him.

"Hi…" Sara waved once, debating killing the woman she had just re-met for the first time in over a decade.

"Sara Lynn!" Nigel exclaimed after a moment before she found herself off the ground thanks to the arms around her waist and bear hug she became a participant of.

"Ok Nige, you can put me down," she laughed, suddenly feeling like she was twenty-two again before she ever left this man.

"Sweet Mary, God love you look good," Nigel smiled when he stepped back from her.

"And you're full of crap," she countered as she looked up at him. He was one of the few people she had to _really_ look up to, but at six-four compared to her five-eight… "I look terrible quite frankly. Part of the reason I left Vegas."

"Ahh so you were in Vegas, interesting city that one," he nodded. "What brings you here though?"

"Actually, I'm the newest Criminalist for this place," Sara smiled. "For the next six months at least. I'm on a LOA from my job in Vegas."

"What's the job in Vegas love?" Nigel asked with a smile.

"CSI, level three," she answered with a shrug before looking past him at Garret who was walking towards them.

"Let me guess, company's coming," Nigel smirked before turning around. "'Lo boss."

"I hate to interrupt, but I'm here to take back our new doctor and remind you that you have work to do Nigel."

"Doctor?" Nigel asked looking back at Sara with a smile, "Always knew you'd make it when you went to Berkley," he continued with a smile before hearing Garret clear his throat. "Alright, alright, I'm going. Bloody slave driver…" he trailed off as he entered his lab.

"I'm guessing he's how you knew Jordan," Garret smiled.

"That would be correct," Sara smile before shaking her head. "I'd have thought he'd be back in England by now. Figured INS would have come after him by now."

"I heard that!" Nigel called from inside the lab.

"You were supposed to," Sara shot back before closing the door. "So, we were on a tour of the place?"

"Yes we were," Garret smiled before turning and leading her back down the hallway.

**:-:-:-:-:-: **

**Tuesday September 13th, 2005  
****Lynn, Massachusetts  
****Wal-Mart Store  
****5:28 p.m. (EST)**

**:-:-:-:-:-:**

The three weeks after her arrival flew by; Sara was busy with getting into the new grove, working alongside Nigel the majority of the time. It was fun really, she'd forgotten just how unique a soul Nigel was… well no, she'd never forgotten how interesting her first love was… She'd forgotten what she was like around him, she laughed more, sang more, and smiled more… She was happier, and it wasn't just being away from Vegas – Because when she was home, she was just as down and sad as she had been in Vegas.

She hadn't had much contact with those she left in Vegas, pretty much ignoring any e-mails. She knew it was probably wrong, but she needed the space, instead only sending a weekly e-mail to everyone as a group – saying she was fine, busy and settled. She'd purposely kept any information from being online, her address and new cell number… She wanted, needed, her freedom. She wasn't about to risk that.

It was a Wednesday when the first call came. She'd been home maybe an hour, flipping through channels…

**:-:-:**

When she saw Nigel's name on the display, she'd smiled for the first time since leaving Boston. "Forget something?" she had asked with a smirk.

"Oh a number of things love, calling you more often when you were in Cali being one of them."

"Flirt today are we, bit late for that darlin'," She shot back

"Damn," Nigel countered, "Well guess I have to work on a few other things I've forgotten."

"Guess you do," Sara smiled

"So, what are you doing tonight?"

"Nothing at the moment, why?"

"Ahh well you are now."

"I am?"

"Yes, you and me, let's go to the movies."

"You been watching Annie again Nige?" Sara smirked

"**_Let's go to the movies, let go see the stars, cowboy heroes - cops and robbers, glamour and strife - bigger than life…_**"

"Oh my god, shut up!" Sara laughed to stop his singing. "Only you would be able to break out in song from a musical Nigel…"

"Ehh, I'm weird,"

"God yes you are," Sara giggled. "The movies?"

"You know, big screen, dark room, overpriced munchies, some probably cheesy flick, too cold air conditioning – the movies."

"You _are_ nuts!" she laughed once more.

"Why thank you love. So, be ready in thirty minutes?"

"You won't take no for an answer will you?"

"Never!"

"Alright," Sara laughed, "Thirty minutes. You owe me a ride on your bike as it is."

"That I do, see you soon love."

**:-:-:**

And that started it all. Practically every night she was doing something, initially just with Nigel, then the others started getting her to go out. She was introduced to the Pogue, the bar Jordan's father owned… though he was MIA so technically she was in charge. She'd given up drinking though, after everything, so she'd only have tea while the others would drink over a case.

She'd gotten close to them all, they were so different and yet they were a family. Bug who was the entomologist, and beyond thrilled when he discovered she knew _the_ Dr. Gil Grissom. They'd spend hours discussing bug timelines and such. Then there was Lily, a fellow vegetarian, but more than that Lily was a complete sweetheart, wanting to protect everyone and see them all happy. Sidney was still sort of the quiet one, though they did get along, whereas Garret was the big brother of the group. Watching out for everyone, keeping Jordan in check, learning that he had to keep her in check as well… Jordan and she became the closest, well besides her relationship with Nigel.

It was funny, both she and Jordan were alpha-females, so was Catherine… but where she and Catherine couldn't live together, she and Jordan never let it get between them. Instead they recognized it in each other, and simply let it be. They worked well together rather than fighting as she and Catherine had. Jordan was possibly the first person in her life she could ever consider a best friend, and she wasn't about to loose that. Besides, the two of them could commiserate together over men, she had Grissom, and Jordan had Woody, who when she finally told him how she felt after he had been shot, he promptly told her to leave and didn't contact her for two months. By the time the end of June rolled around, they'd both decided that they were not going to mope over the men anymore. They weren't worth it.

Then there was Nigel… Nigel who shewas spending practically every night doing something with, Nigel who wouldn't let her be unhappy, who made her smile with just a few words… Nigel who she was quickly falling in love with all over again.

Independence Day had been spent at the Morgue watching the Pops on TV before going to the roof to watch the fireworks from a distance. Jordan had her guitar, and she had her's, so they sat and played their own music to go along with the fireworks, singing some of their favorite patriotic songs. They even did "God Save the Queen" for Nigel. Considering it was the same music as "My Country Tis of Thee", she and Jordan had it rather easy.

It was a week later that she had come into work to find a rose on her keyboard and an envelope.

_**From the moment I saw you,  
**__**from the moment I looked into your eyes,  
**__**There was something about you.  
**__**I knew that you were once in a lifetime,  
**__**A treasure near impossible to find,  
**__**and I know how lucky I am to know you.  
**__**Cause I've seen rainbows that could take your breath away.  
**__**The beauty of the setting sun that ends a perfect day.  
**__**And when it comes to shooting stars, I've seen a few.  
**__**But I've never seen anything as beautiful as you.**_

_**Sara Lynn, will you accompany me to dinner this Saturday night?**_

_**Nigel**_

She couldn't help by smile, the poem was so beautiful. She didn't recognize it, and would have to ask him about it… Hearing the door open she glanced over her shoulder to find him leaning on the door, a slightly sheepish expression on his face. "You are crazy," she smiled, "But I'd be glad to."

The smile on his face was one she hadn't seen in years, not since the day she told him that she loved him when she was twenty-one.

**:-:-:**

The next month and a half had flown by, and she found herself falling even more in love with Nigel. True she still had feelings for Grissom, loved him even… but Nigel was willing to take the risk. Grissom had never been, and she couldn't wait forever. She needed to live.

And so she found herself walking around the Wal-Mart in Lynn, picking up things for her birthday party.

"Now let me get this straight, you my vegetarian girlfriend, are making _chicken_ Caesar salad for your birthday meal?" Nigel asked still flabbergasted over that.

"I know, it's so weird," Sara shrugged. "But I'm _seriously_ craving chicken," she continued as she grabbed two packages of croutons.

"Okay," Nigel shrugged. "Who knew, I start dating you again and you start eating meat."

"This has nothing to do with you," Sara laughed.

"Whatever you say love," he shot back with a smile before reaching up to grab the chips. "Lime ones right?"

"Yup, ok so now we need the daiquiri and margarita mix, salt, and whip cream," Sara read as she crossed croutons and chips off her list.

"Why don't you get those and I'll go grab the spinach artichoke dip?" Nigel suggested.

"Deal," Sara smiled before they parted ways. They met up again a few minutes later in the ice cream cakes. "Ok, I vote for the Carvel Sinfully Chocolate cake."

"Well that's a given love," he grinned before opening the door to grab two of the cakes. "Or Three?"

"Three, Jordon and I could probably finish off one of those little things by ourselves… actually, better make it five," Sara nodded.

"Five?" Nigel repeated shocked. "Sweet Nancy love, there are only going to be six of us there."

"Yes and Lily, Jor, and I can no doubt eat one of those things on our own. That leaves you three men to share two," Sara countered with a smirk.

"Well, I'm not arguing."

"Good," Sara laughed as he grabbed the cakes, depleting the store of their stock of that particular type. "Well, I think that's everything then."

"Good, so let's get all this stuff back to your place then love."

"Sounds like a plan to me. Oh and you know you are so cooking the meat don't you?"

"Pretty much expected that love."

"Good to hear babe," Sara shot back as he wrapped and arm around her shoulders and they made their way towards checkout.

**:-:-:-:-:-: **

**Friday September 16th, 2005  
****Boston, Massachusetts  
****Medical Examiner's Office  
****Break Room  
****10:21 p.m. (EST)**

**:-:-:-:-:-:**

"Happy Birthday!" everyone cried when Sara entered the Break Room intent on getting a cup of tea.

"What…" Sara began as she glanced around the room, shocked to see the decorations and then the food on the tables, food she thought was at her home, prepared for a party the next day.

"We decided you needed to actually have your party _on_ your birthday," Jordan explained as she popped a birthday hat on Sara's head.

"How did you get everything here?"

"They threatened calling INS on me if I didn't break into your house and get it all love," Nigel explained with a sheepish look.

"Well, guess it's a good thing I gave you a key so you didn't have to _actually_ break in," Sara laughed.

"Well then, let's get this party started while we actually have a bit of a break," Jordan instructed before the group consisting of the three of them, Garret, Lily, Bug and Sidney grabbed chairs and began passing food.

They managed to have a peaceful hour before work interrupted, even getting to dig out the five cakes which Jordan in her evil-ness managed to have thirty-four candles spread on, the cakes forming a sort of circle.

"I'm so getting revenge on you for this when it's your birthday," Sara grumbled as Lily and Bug lit the candles.

"Bring it on girl," Jordan shot back with a smirk before everyone began to sing 'happy birthday' and Sara, somehow, managed to blow out every candle.

As predicted, Jordan, Lily, and Sara finished off a cake each to themselves, and the rest of the guys just shook their heads. Just after an hour since the moment Sara walked into the room, Detective Woody Hoyt, aka the guy Sara didn't like because he basically broke Jordan's heart just after Sara arrived, walked into the room. Jordan had finally opened up and told him that she loved him, true it was while he was being wheeled into surgery after being shot, but she took the chance, only to have him tell her after his surgery to go away and leave him alone. Reminded Sara too much of her own time with Grissom, and the two women had gone out and bought chocolate and junk food and sat and commiserated over the stupidity of men.

Needless to say, Woody's face wasn't a completely welcomed sight. Everyone was still a bit ticked at him for what he did to Jordan, that with interrupting the birthday party, well he wisely quickly fled the room and headed out to the scene. After the events surrounding his shooting a few weeks after Sara arrived, things had been tense. When he basically used Jordan for her help eight weeks later - when he found a lead on his shooter, who had escaped the night of the shooting from the hospital, - they got worse. Pretty much it was now a matter of waiting for him to, at the very least, apologizing to Jordan until then none of them really were anything beyond polite with him. All in all it was a bad situation, and Woody was learning that he didn't want to be around Sara unless _absolutely_ necessary.

The next seven hours passed by in a blur of work on a double homicide, but as six-twenty rolled around, Nigel pulled her away from her computer, leaving a note on the door that they'd be back in five. Shrugging she had followed him, though she wasn't expecting to end up on the roof a minute or so later.

"Nige?" she asked looking back at him as he shut the door. "What's going on?"

"Thought you might like to see the sunrise love," he shrugged lightly before joining her. Wrapping his arms around her waist loosely, he turned her attention back towards the horizon. "Interesting isn't it love?" he continued as he let his chin rest on her shoulder.

"What's that?"

"Twelve years ago I was sending you a card and small gift for your birthday, neither of us knowing if we'd make it," he began with a smile.

"And look at us now," Sara continued as she glanced over at him out of the corner of her eyes. "What's really going on here babe?"

"Marry me," he answered softly.

"Is that a question or a statement?" Sara asked after a moment as she watched the sky take on the colors of sunrise.

"I know better than to tell you what to do love."

Sara smiled; she loved how he said that one word so differently with her. It was an everyday occurrence in his speech, 'love', and yet when he spoke to her, there was such a different tone to his voice, as if she was the only one he ever said it to. As if she was the only one that mattered. "So that was a question then…"

"One I'm hoping to have answered sometime in the next century love," he countered with a chuckle.

"Hmm, interesting way you have of proposing Nigel Eames Townsend," Sara smiled. "Then again, can't imagine you getting down on one knee, considering it would still place you practically almost at eyelevel with me…"

"Well I imagine it would be more like waist level there love, but if you want to be that imaginative…"

"Oh stop it," Sara laughed as she turned in his arms, bringing her own up to wrap around his neck. "You serious about this?"

"Never been more," Nigel countered softly.

"Then shouldn't you already know what I'm going to say?" Sara asked with a smile.

"Aren't you the one who always tells me not to assume?"

"Who said you're assuming?" Sara chuckled. "Yes you bloody nutcase, yes!"

"Yes? Yes!" Nigel laughed as he picked her up and swung her around in a circle.

"You can put me down now," Sara giggled before he let her back down on her feet.

"Suppose I should give you this," Nigel grinned as he pulled a ribbon from his back pocket, before raising it up so the ring dangling on it would sway in front of her line of sight.

"Probably should," Sara smiled before reaching up to grab the ring so she could look at it. "My God Nige… it's beautiful."

"It was my mum's, Aunt Bea sent it to me," he explained as he took it back and nimbly untied the knot before sliding the yellow gold ring off the ribbon and into his hand. Taking her left hand he slipped it onto her finger.

Glancing down at the ring, with a round stone and six diamond chips on either side of the center diamond in a pave setting, Sara looked back up to him with a slight smirk. "Don't tell me your mother and I have the same ring size."

"Actually your fingers are a bit smaller, but I had my ways for getting your ring size," Nigel smiled wickedly.

"I think I'm better off not knowing," Sara chuckled once more. "But we should probably get back to work babe."

"That we should sweetheart," Nigel agreed before opening the door.

"Jordan is going to flip," Sara shook her head as they made their way back inside.

"She's your problem love, not mine."

* * *

Thanks to Oracle-AFK for reviewing :-)The CJ gangshowed up ;-)

* * *

Please review and let me know what you all think :-) Next update will be Thursday the... 26th (had to look that up lol) 

Till then


	3. Chapter 2

:-:-:-:-:-:  
**Chapter 2  
****:-:-:-:-:-:**

**:-:-:-:-:-: **

**Thursday September 22nd, 2005  
****Boston, Massachusetts  
****Medical Examiner's Office  
****1:45 p.m. (EST)**

**:-:-:-:-:-:**

"I still can't believe you and Nigel are going to tie the knot," Jordan laughed as the elevator doors opened, letting her, Lily, and Sara back into the lobby of the place they all considered a second home.

"And just what is so hard to believe about that?" Sara countered.

"Really now, we've been talking about this all lunch," Lily agreed.

"What are you going to do about Vegas?"

"Go back, give my formal resignation in November, come back here," Sara shrugged. "Trust me guys, I already have this figured out. At this point, nothing can go wrong."

"Famous last words," Garret's voice drew their attention.

"Good God Gar… you look like hell!" Jordan's rather blunt comment adequately described his appearance better than anything else could.

"What's wrong?" Lily asked immediately.

"You better get upstairs Sara, Nigel needs to talk to you," he answered softly. A moment later she disappeared, and the two women left turned on their boss.

"_What_ is going on?" Jordan demanded.

"We need scotch, I need scotch and you two may want some…" he answered before turning and heading towards his office, sharing a glance, Lily and Jordan followed after him.

**:-:-:**

Skidding to a halt Sara bumped into Bug quite literally, the man who was Nigel's best friend having been standing in front of Nigel and Sara's office, Sara looked up at him concerned. "Bug?"

"He's in there," Bug explained as they both gained their footing. "I don't know what happened, but he was in talking with Dr. Macy then I saw him stalk down the hallway to disappear in here. He won't open the door."

"I'll find out what's going on. I suspect Jor and Lil have corned Garret in his office no doubt, if you want to find out now instead of waiting. Or at the very least yell at Gar."

"Sounds good to me," Bug shook his head. "Good luck Sara."

She watched him go, before turning her attention back to the door and the man on the other side. "Nige?" she called softly while knocking. "Please let me in Nige," she waited in silence a few minutes before hearing the lock click. Opening the door she slipped inside before closing and locking it behind her. "What's wrong babe?" she whispered as she knelt next to the chair he was sitting in with his arms propped on his keyboard, his head hanging down between them.

"Dr. Macy called me into his office a little ago…" he began after a moment. "They're shipping me back."

"INS?" she asked surprised. "Nige… didn't you get your green card after I left?"

"No…" he began turning his head enough to look at her.

"Nigel Eames Townsend are you out of your _mind_!" Sara yelled as she stood. "You mean to tell me you've been here on a six-month visa for _fourteen years_!"

"Love…" he began as he raised his head to watch her pace.

"Nige, I can understand it slipping your mind for a few months, heck maybe even a few years, but this has been over a decade…" Sara sighed as she stopped and turned to look at him. "What happens now?" she whispered.

"Macy told me he asked INS that. Once I'm back in England I can apply and hopefully be back here within six-months…"

"Okay…" Sara nodded before crossing the room back to him, sinking to the floor once more she reached up to hold onto his arm closest to her. "Then we'll go. But so help me, you pull a stunt like this again and I'll beat the crap out of you."

"Figure that's a given," Nigel smiled. "Wait a minute…" he began with a frown. "_We_?"

"Well you aren't going back to England without me Nigel Townsend. And you better not be thinking otherwise," Sara snapped lightly.

"Love, you have to be back in Vegas in two months…"

"So, I'll spend two months with you, and if you don't have your papers by the time I'm due back in Vegas, I'll head back there, give them my notice and take care of that and meet you back here for the holidays."

"What if I don't have my papers then either love?"

"Then I'll just have Boston be a pit stop on my way back to you so I can pick up Christmas gifts and maybe find a way to stuff the gang in a few suitcases and bring them with me for the holidays," Sara shrugged.

"You're daft you know that love?"

"Nigel, I'm marrying you Mr. Eyeliner wearing, vampire believing, paranormal encyclopedia, one of a kind, genuine original odd duck. I have to be insane to understand you," Sara smiled.

"You know I'd give up some of that stuff if you wanted a more down to earth guy…"

"Nigel, we've been over this. I love you just the way you are, eccentricities and all. Besides, it comes in handy having a guy who knows how to apply eyeliner. And it's not like I haven't done the scene too, you're the one who introduced me to it back when it was still in it's heyday as it were. Besides, you wouldn't be my Nigel without the eyeliner and everything," Sara argued, an argument they'd had a number of times. "Last time we do this alright?"

"Alright love," Nigel agreed with a smile before reaching over with his free arm to brush a curl behind her ear.

"So when do we leave?" Sara asked after a moment.

"I need to call my Aunt Bea and see if the flat above her shop is empty, at least to see if we can use it until we find a temporary residence. I have to be out of the country by a week from Sunday. They gave me that long to arrange for my ticket and take care of things here. Dr. Macy already said he was arranging for my leave of absence."

"Alright then, I'll finish the work on the case, you go ahead and head home. I'll join you at your place after shift and see Garret about arranging for the two remaining months of my employment to be placed in temporary suspension until we return," Sara nodded. "Don't worry babe, everything is going to be fine."

"I hope so…"

"I know so," Sara countered gently before rising with him and wrapping her arms around him. "Go on babe, I'll see you in a few hours. I love you."

"Love you too sweetheart," Nigel smiled before leaving the room.

Sighing, Sara collapsed into the chair he had just vacated. She would seriously have to kick his butt later… but for now, she picked up the phone and dialed Garret's pager, asking him to bring the others down to her and Nigel's office. She had no doubts they were with him.

**:-:-:-:-:-: **

**Saturday October 1st, 2005  
****Boston, Massachusetts  
****The Pogue  
****11:15 p.m. (EST)**

**:-:-:-:-:-:**

"Alright then, so we're all here to enjoy dinner together, and be given one last chance to yell at our dearly insane Brit," Jordan began as she lifted her glass.

"Here here," Bug agreed sending a look Nigel's way, the taller man somehow managing to sink down further into the booth next to Sara.

"Alright, alright, I think he's had enough yelling. Besides, I think I covered all of us the moment I found out," Sara laughed.

"Ehh, true," Jordan shrugged. "Alright then, to enjoying dinner together, and that Nigel's papers get approved faster than he can jump to a paranormal explanation for interesting and immediately unexplainable cases."

"Now there is something to toast to," Sara smiled as she lifted her own glass, the only one not having alcohol. Though the group as a whole was use to it by now, she had broken her plan to not drink anymore after a particularly difficult case, well she had tried one beer and promptly found herself in the bathroom having confession with the porcelain god. Since then… she'd stuck with soda and ice tea.

"Cheers!" Nigel agreed. An hour later, they were entering Nigel's apartment, which his roommate would be using until they returned, at which time the man planned to move in with his own girlfriend. Sara's place had been packed up and taken care of; her things now there at the place they would call home, considering Nigel actually owned the entire apartment and wasn't just renting it. After a quick shower, they were sliding into bed, one last time before being away for who knew how long.

**:-:-:-:-:-: **

**Sunday October 2nd, 2005  
****London, England  
****Bea's Teas  
****8:21 p.m. (GMT)**

**:-:-:-:-:-:**

"Nigel!"

Looking up, Sara laughed at the sight of her fiancé being hugged by a woman even smaller then her, then that same woman proceeding to step back, hand on one hip as she waved her finger waving while scolded him.

Turning her attention from the sight across the room, Sara looked around the store owned by Nigel's aunt. Beatrice Otis, Aunt Bea for short had quite the lucrative business, or so it appeared. After a six-hour flight, they had found themselves in London and waiting for Nigel's cousin to arrive. When she had first seen Arthur Otis, she had seen the family link between them immediately. He had the same figure as Nigel, tall and thin, though he was a good five inches shorter than her own Brit. Where Nigel had black hair and hazel eyes though, Arthur's red-blonde hair was kept short, and his green eyes simply sparkled with amusement as he smacked the back of Nigel's head. James as he quickly told Sara to call him, spent the entire drive to his mother's telling them about the family and filling Nigel in on all the things he'd missed out on. Reaching back to smack Nigel a time or two for good measure as well since she was in front with James.

Beatrice was Nigel's mother's sister, and had married a Londoner, Arthur senior, hence the reason James preferred to use his middle name. Sara learned that for a few years the two had lived in San Francisco, which was where Angelina was born, same year as Sara herself. Not long after Angie was born, the family had come back to London, where Arthur worked as a constable, eventually making it to Assistant Commissioner before his death fifteen-years-earlier. Seven months later James and Angie's little sister was born, Anne Marie. Anne Marie was fourteen now, and hoping to attend Oxford. When she wasn't studying like mad, she was working at her mother's store. Bea had opened Bea's Teas when Angie was only eight, so all of the children had grown up with the store. Today Angie was the official manager, while James' wife Elizabeth worked there as well.

Beatrice was the woman currently giving Nigel a piece of her mind, a quite tiny woman compared to many, especially when placed next to her nephew, Bea was five-two in height. Her once naturally black hair was helped to remain so today, she insisted that until her youngest child was at least finished with her G.C.S.Es, then she was going to keep her hair the color she was born with. And she wasn't going to let the fact she had three grandchildren convince her otherwise. Her blue eyes had been passed to Angelina, though little else had. Angie was five-six with her father's hair, her mother's eyes. She was a slim woman, willowy even, and was on her mother's case constantly about everything from how they needed to raise prices to her mother's weight. Beatrice just took it all in stride and would remind her that she wasn't perfect herself, and to go get the mothering out of her system with her own children. "Leave my mothering to my mum. And I don't care if she's been dead twenty years."

Angie had married an Irish man, Charles Umney. Charles was a barrister there in town, and they had two children, Marian and Charles junior. Charlie was nine now, the spitting image of his father, Angie had thanked God when she saw at least one of her children got the green eyes she had initially fallen in love with her husband over. He could usually be found begging to be rescued from his sister. Marian was six, having her mother's eyes and her father's red hair. Becca as she preferred to be called was usually found at the shop when not in classes or at home. Her main goal in life was to drive her brother batty, and she excelled at it.

James had been born ten years after one sister, and ten years before the other. He followed his father into law enforcement, currently a Police Constable. He had married his childhood sweetheart three-years-earlier, Elizabeth McAuliffe. Eliza was rather quiet, but she adored her adopted family, her own family had abandoned her as a child. They had a son, Arthur Otis the third, or Artie as they called him. Artie was two now, with his mother's auburn hair and father and grandfather's green eyes. Eliza's own eyes were a light shade of brown, five-eight; she tended to be self-conscious of her appearance when away from the family. They were use to her needing to be reassured that they loved her and she was perfect just as she was many days when she arrived home from her Medical Biochemistry studies at Brunel University. James had warned them both not to be surprised if she did that, and Sara had glanced at Nigel, immediately making a promise to herself that she was going to get to know the woman and simply be her friend.

"And this must be Sara," Bea's voice drew Sara's attention from where she had been staring at a shelf of teapots to find the woman now standing in front of her, Nigel a few feet behind with a sheepish expression.

"Hello," Sara began after a beat.

"Oh stuff this bloody hello business," Bea exclaimed before Sara found herself hugged by the woman. "You manage to bring my cheeky nitwit of a nephew home, you just went past the hello point to the point of being family. The fact Nigel intends to marry you just makes him smarter in my eyes," Bea continued as she stepped back. "Oh Nigel, she's lovely… now to get some meat on her."

"Meant to warn you she was a bit daft," Nigel chuckled as he wrapped an arm around Sara's shoulder while they watched the woman walk off, giving orders to the other members of the family of how they were going to put said meat on Sara's bones.

"Nigel!" Sara laughed as she smacked his arm.

"What? She's use to me," he shrugged before pulling slightly to get her moving, then leading her on a tour of the shop, then up to the flat they would be calling home for the next few weeks until her return to Vegas, or their return to Boston, whichever came first.

**:-:-:-:-:-: **

**Wednesday October 26th, 2005  
****London, England  
****Swan Star Pub  
****4:31 p.m. (GMT)**

**:-:-:-:-:-:**

The next three weeks just flew by for Sara and Nigel. They visited everything from Picadilly Circus to the Tower of London, from Big Ben to touring Parliament and Westminister Abbey. Every museum in town was hit, and they met 'everyone' at the Swan Star.

The Swan Star was the Pub down the street from Bea's Teas, and the second home for every member of the Otis family. The Swan Star was owned and run by Andrew MacWhitter, more commonly known as Mac. A few of the other well known regulars included Timothy, a fifty-something Cockney, who seemed to believe that Sara and all the other women in the Pub were his to hit on. She had quickly learned to take it all in stride and that he was just teasing, really it was just part of Ol' Timothy's charm. Then there was Abigail, she and Mac had been married once, divorced nearly fifteen years before. She kept his name, more as a way to annoy him, and even had a sewing shop next door to Bea's Teas. Each night she'd be back at the Swan Star, and she and Mac would sit and bicker back and forth, always ending the night by Mac stating he was going to 'divorce your bleeding arse', and Abby would just turn, look at him and say 'You already have you daft plonker!'. Those at the tables deemed the Otis tables would just look at each other and shake their heads. It was all part of the charm of the Swan Star.

So, on the night of Nigel's thirty-ninth birthday, the family had left him to work the store saying they were taking Sara over to Abby's. When Abby had learned Sara didn't know how to sew…. Well you would have thought the world had stopped spinning for a moment. And she had been on Sara for weeks to learn how. Sewing, Crochet, Knitting, Quilting, they were plotting teaching it all to her. So surprisingly, he never even thought twice about the fact they were heading over there for the afternoon, course it did help that Sara put up one hell of an argument over the whole matter…

As soon as they were at Abby's, they'd left and headed towards the Swan Star through the back. The next few hours were spent decorating for the surprise party they had planned for Nigel, and so at four-thirty Sara was making her way back to the shop to bring Nigel to the Pub.

"And I'm agreeing to closing up the shop when Bea has told me to take care of it because why?" Nigel asked as she moved around the room turning off lights for him.

"Because I managed to convince Bea to close the shop up early for the same reason I'm going to convince you to just do it," Sara countered with a smirk.

"Which is?" he countered as he grabbed her wrist and spun her around so she found herself leaning against his chest, his arms around her waist, as he leaned back against the counter.

"It's your birthday; I want to have a quiet night with you. And I won't try and weasel my way out of that appointment I have tomorrow with Angie's doctor," Sara shrugged lightly.

"Well, let's go then," Nigel nodded and Sara smiled, she knew that promise of the appointment would work. He, and the rest of his insane family, had been on her case since they arrived in London to go see a doctor – she'd been exceedingly tired, so much so it would be abnormal for someone with normal sleeping patterns. With her normal sleeping habits being that she slept for about three hours each night, her sleeping as of late was a bit disconcerting to say the least. Lately she had been sleeping closer to ten hours straight, only to wake and for someone to usually find her sound asleep standing up even. The more interesting times had been when she was holding a cup of tea and fell asleep, or the time she fell asleep in the bathroom… But at the same time, Sara _despised_ doctors. A throw back to her childhood perhaps and all the time spent in the emergency room… "You coming love?"

Looking up she smiled before taking the hand he offered, then leaning more into his side as they walked up the street. She had just been completely getting use to weather in Boston, dropping another ten degrees of weather in the time it took to fly six hours threw her system - that had been use to the desert heat - even more.

"Now you know I love you?" Sara asked with a smile as he opened the door and she slipped into the Pub in front of him.

"Of course…"

"Surprise!"

**:-:-:-:-:-:**

**Thursday October 27th, 2005  
****London, England  
****Townsend/Sidle Flat  
****11:31 p.m. (GMT)**

**:-:-:-:-:-:**

The party was perfect; Nigel had given her a look for not telling him, before shaking his head. Abby and Mac got into a memorable argument, more so than their regular nights; and the others in the Pub had simply raised a glass and gave a toast as Abby made her exit with a slam of the door behind her. After that, a round of drinks had been on the house to celebrate the 'leaving of the shrew'. Ol' Timothy had asked once again why she wouldn't move in and be his roommate, to which she, now having learned just what the differences between British slang and American slang meant, told him she already had a roommate, and neither of them was looking for a flat mate. Ol' Timothy's laugh had been a familiar sound and only made the night more memorable.

Eventually they had all left the Swan, splitting up and heading towards their various homes, she and Nigel making their way back to the flat above Bea's Teas. When they'd entered their 'living room', she'd been given the chance to tease him about being out and about for once without all his spikes. Nigel, god love him, could very easily be classified a Goth through and through. Besides the eyeliner, which she adored on him for some reason, his regular clothing ensemble usually included the necklaces and bracelets, a cross that he always wore, and a couple bracelets on each wrist, one per wrist having spikes, matching a spike collar. He'd taken it all in stride, before turning and grabbing her around the waist; picking her up before crossing to the bed and mock-dropping her. He then had proceeded to tickle her until she begged for forgiveness. Well that and promised to give him the present she had for him.

Sara had been doing her usual hunting online, and returned to her old catalog ways in some degree, though she didn't go near the clothing catalogs. Instead she had been receiving the catalogs from The Noble Collection, a long standing subscription thanks to Nigel himself. And when she'd seen the hourglass she knew it was the perfect gift for her eccentric fiancé. It was called The Guardians of Time Mystical Hourglass, and was crafted from silver and gold, with winged gargoyles. And midnight black sand. He'd laughed when he heard her explanation, with this, he better not forget to do any of those important things again, like apply for anything having to do with INS. Finally though, they both decided the need for sleep was more than the need for further tickling revenges about her statements.

That morning they had breakfast and she enjoying the wonderful Cream Teas she'd become addicted to. Nigel had gone to see if there was anything new on his case, plans to work the counter and books that night. Sara in turn went downstairs to spend some time with Bea and Angie, before Angie drove her to her appointment.

After her appointment, she spent the rest of the day in a bit of a haze, waving off Angie and Bea's questions and concerns, then Eliza and Anne Marie's as well. Eventually she had escaped next door to Abby's, giving in to the woman's lessons. Finally as she started to doze off again as had become so common, she said goodbye, taking her crochet beginnings with her and used the back stairs to take a nap. Hours later she woke to footsteps on the stairs.

Sara heard the door opened and took a deep breath, preparing herself for what she had to tell him. She heard Nigel take off his shoes by the door, then make his way towards the bathroom. She heard the toilet flush, and water running. The slight clink on the table told her he had taken off his bracelets. She listened as he padded across the floor, his feet bare based on the hisses, cold floors, they were always cold at night. Glancing up from the pillows, she watched as he rounded the bed to lean down and kiss her forehead, before he noticed her eyes were watching him from the light of the moon out the window.

"Evening love, figured you'd be asleep."

"Can't sleep, how was work?" she countered as she moved over slightly to let him sit down.

"Ehh; same as always. Got the books complete for Angelina."

"That's good," she nodded.

"How was your appointment today?" Nigel countered as he traced patterns on the blanket covering her legs.

"Interesting…" Sara began before sighing. "Why don't you turn the light on and I'll sit up." Nigel nodded before rising, and turning the lamp on. Returning to the bed he sat down at the foot of the bed as she sat up against the pillows. She smiled when he brought his legs up to sit cross-legged, his left leg hanging out in mid-air off the bed. "Cold feet?" she teased softly.

"Bloody cold floors. We need some rugs in here if we're going to be here much longer," he countered shaking his head. "So, your appointment? Did they know why you've been so tired lately?"

"Yeah…" she began as she pulled her legs up and wrapped her arms around her knees. "I'm pregnant," she whispered, not looking at him.

"Really?" he asked before grinning. "Sara that's wonderful!" he continued happily.

"Don't get too excited yet," Sara began quickly, finally looking up at him and seeing the now confused expression on his face. "Remember how I told you why I left Vegas?"

"Bloody idiot of a boss finally did something about the sexual tension between you, seemed to have taken the risk, only to leave the next morning and later say it was a mistake. You left to get away, I'll be honest, part of me is thankful for the bugger, otherwise you wouldn't have come to Boston and I wouldn't have seen you again and now be here engaged to you."

Sara chuckled as she shook her head. "You are one of a kind Nige."

"Thank you, so where is this all going love?" he asked concerned.

"You know how I have a tendency to skip periods?" she asked after a moment.

"Yes…" he replied and she looked up to catch the haunted look in his eyes. She knew what he was thinking about, her pregnancy scare after her rape. Reaching out she squeezed his hand until the look left his eyes and he smiled to let her know he was okay.

"Remember that flu I had two months ago for two weeks?" she continued softly.

"Yes… Sara, are you going with this where I think you're going with this?"

"I'm twenty-four weeks pregnant," she answered finally. "This baby isn't yours…" she whispered before looking across the room. "Nigel, I'd understand if you don't want to marry me now, but I can't give up this baby. I may not have known about him or her, but that doesn't mean I can have an abortion or even give it up for adoption. I grew up without my parents, I can't do that to my child…" she rambled on slightly.

"Sara Lynn!" he interrupted as he reached out and turned her head to look at him, brushing his thumb against her cheek softly. "Sweetheart, I don't care." He began before seeing the confusion in her eyes. "I don't care that this child may be Dr. Grissom's. This child is yours, and that is more important to me than anything else. I love you Sara, and I will love this child as much as I would if he or she bore my blood. I'd never leave you love, especially not because of this," he promised before reaching his thumb up to brush away the tear that had slipped down her cheek.

"God I love you Nigel Townsend."

"I love you too Sara Lynn Sidle," Nigel countered gently. "Get some sleep sweetheart, we'll talk in the morning."

"Okay," Sara nodded as he helped her lay back down before climbing into the bed behind her. "Night…"

"Goodnight love."

**:-:-:-:-:-:**

**Friday October 28th, 2005  
****London, England  
****Bea's Teas  
****11:35 a.m. (GMT)**

**:-:-:-:-:-:**

"Well?" Bea asked the moment Nigel opened the door so Sara could enter after her follow-up exam.

"Well, we're going to be here for a few more months," Sara shrugged slightly as she slipped out of her jacket.

"And that means what exactly?" Angie spoke up from where she was helping Mrs. Autenberry wrap her purchases.

"Come on dearie, we're all desperate to know," Mrs. Autenberry spoke up.

Sara glanced back at Nigel, giving him a look that stopped him mid-chuckle before looking back at the women gathered around the store. "You three are insatiable when it comes to answers."

"We're British, we like to know these things," Mrs. Autenberry countered as she turned to look at the much younger woman.

"Well, first off it's a girl, and I'm due the end of February," Sara began as Nigel produced the ultrasound. "Second, because of my rather… unique… medical condition, I can't fly until after the baby is born, at least. So, we're going to be here four months at least."

"Well congratulations, both of you," Mrs. Autenberry smiled as she gathered her bags and made her way towards the door. "Now how about making an honest bloke out of this one dearie," she added before disappearing through the door, the tickling of the bell over the door the only sound for a moment.

"Always thought I was supposed to make an honest woman out of you…" Nigel frowned before shrugging. "Either way."

"Was that a proposal?" Angie asked as she leaned forward on the counter.

"About as eloquent as the first one he gave me," Sara shrugged.

"I didn't see you complaining the first time, I believe you actually were the one telling me you would be surprised if it had been any other way!" Nigel argued while wrapping his arms around her waist.

"Something tells me we don't want to know Angie girl," Bea shook her head. "Well I'm going to go share the news with Abby, who is expecting you tomorrow morning after breakfast to continue your lessons, something tells me she now plans to keep you all day long seeing as there is a goal for all of these lessons now, so better enjoy a few hours together while you can. Oh and enjoy waking up your friends in Boston," Bea added over her shoulder before disappearing out the front door as well, headed next door.

"Hmm that is a good point… I say we wake Bug first," Nigel grinned and Sara just shook her head.

"See you later Angie."

"Cheers," Angie called after them as Nigel propelled her through to the back room and up the stairs.

"I have a theory," Sara began when she was comfortably seated at the table, and watching Nigel as he moved around their 'kitchen' making a pot of tea. She shook her head when the strawberry jam and clotted cream appeared on the table before he was back at the stove slipping a few scones in the oven to heat them up. "How about we call and wake Bug, three-way Jor, have her three-way Garret and Bug can three-way Lily. Then we have the entire gang and can tell them all at once."

"Evil sounding plot to me love," Nigel grinned before turning his attention back to the tea.

Shaking her head once more, Sara reached over and pulled the phone towards her before dialing Bug's number on speaker. "'llooo" came the half-asleep answer to the sixth ring.

"Morning Buggles," Nigel called with a grin as he took the teapot off the stove.

"Nigel? Do you realize what time it is?" Bug asked and they heard him sit up, no doubt rubbing at his face to wake up.

"Well, it's heading towards noon here, that would make it heading towards seven there," Sara answered as Nigel pulled the scones from the oven.

"And you're calling me at this time in the morning just to discuss time change between there and here?"

"Nope, actually we are going to put you on three-way and call Jordan, then need you to put us on three-way and call Lily, and we'll have Jor do the same with Garret," Sara explained before smiling up at Nigel when he placed the scones on the table and then the teapot.

"Well, I guess if you're going to wake Jordan, this must be important," Bug sighed over the line. "Wait, you two haven't decided to elope or anything have you?"

"No," Sara laughed, "Hang on we're going to three-way Jordan."

"Yeah, sure… I need coffee."

"I bet he does," Nigel smirked while Sara put him on hold and dialed Jordan's number.

"Thanks," Sara smiled, taking the cup of tea he'd made just as she liked it.

"This better be life or death."

"Well in a way it is life, definitely no death."

"Well it could be a matter of death…"

"What the hell are you talking about Nige?" Jordan demanded.

"Ignore him Jor, he's loosing his mind," Sara chuckled. "Hang on we're going to switch to three-way."

"When did he have his mind?" Jordan asked a moment later.

"So they brought you into this insanity too did they?"

"What have those two been smoking Bug?" Jordan asked with a yawn.

"Nothing!" Sara argued as she spread jam on her scone before stealing the bowl of clotted cream from Nigel as he went to stick his knife in it.

"We need you two to make a call on three-way so we have one big conference call," Nigel continued after sticking his tongue out at Sara. "We figured we'd give you the joy of calling Dr. Macy."

"Oh with pleasure," Jordan's evil cackling drifted away when they were put on hold.

"I think I better call Lil while there's a chance," Bug spoke up before disappearing as well.

"It's going better than I imagined it might," Sara mused.

"That makes two of us," Nigel smiled. "So, to possible continue a conversation from downstairs… I know we hadn't set a date or anything like that… why don't we have the wedding here in London?"

"Well I suppose it is a bit to late to avoid the whole weight gain before the wedding excuse… as long as I'm not in my last month, I really don't care if we do it before or after… though it might be nice to get it done sooner rather than later. We're going to be busy as hell after February…"

"Why are you going to be busy as hell after February? And why did Jordan wake me up after a double last night?" Garret's voice drew their attention back to the phone.

"What he said," Lily agreed.

"Well, we have a bit of news," Sara began glancing at Nigel.

"That relates to life and death how exactly?" Jordan asked after another yawn.

"I'm not going to ask."

"Smart idea Gar," Lily giggled "So, what's going on you two?"

"Well, we have news, we won't be back until March at the earliest," Sara began as she grabbed a piece of paper and scribbled a message for Nigel.

"Why?" four yelled questions, or exclamations as the case applied, echoed in the room.

"I'm not allowed to fly for a minimum of another sixteen weeks."

"Ok, why sixteen weeks?" Bug asked.

"Because I'm twenty-four weeks pregnant of course," Sara smirked

"AHHH!" Lily's shriek was the first thing they heard followed by Jordan's own yell of happiness.

"Ok, now that both of you have gotten that out of your systems," Garret began "Congratulations Sara, Nigel."

"Thanks Dr. M."

"What he said," Sara laughed before glancing down at his response to her note. "And on that note, we want to ask the boss if it might be possible to let his three best MEs and Grief Counselor have a few days off at Christmas time."

"Three?" Garret echoed. "Sara, last I checked on this phone call, there is only Jordan and Bug here in Boston who are working, Nigel is there…"

"And here I'm thinking the Chief Medical Examiner himself is one of the best MEs Boston has…" Sara shrugged.

"Alright, you got me," Garret chuckled. "So what exactly are you asking for me to give Bug, Jordan, Lily, and myself time off for?"

"Nothing major, a little Christmas fun, a six-hour trip packed in like sardines with a few hundred other people… seeing the sights in London, meeting the crazy natives… wearing a tux and dress accordingly… possibly either standing with, bearing witness to, or giving away the bride…" Sara shrugged, then reaching over to smack Nigel as he was trying to not make any noise while choking on a sip of tea he had intended to take, only to get about half the cup for his efforts when she started.

"Oh My GOD!" Lily cried once more.

"Is she jumping around her room looking for someone to hug I wonder…" Jordan mused

"Probably," Garret agreed. "And I think I can arrange something… after all getting to spend six hours stuffed like sardines is so much more fun than work."

"Oh and actually seeing Nigel get married isn't?" Jordan countered.

"No, that's worth it too," Garret conceded. "But I need sleep, as I'm sure everyone else does. So I'm going to hang up at the very least. Congratulations to both of you, and I'll check on the whole vacation thing as soon as I get into the office."

"Bye Dr. M."

"Bye Garret," Sara agreed before they heard the click indicating he was gone.

"He's right, we need sleep. E-mail me and I'll drag Jordan into helping plan."

"Deal Lil," Sara smiled. "Better run for it Jor."

"I heard that," Lily teased. "Bye you two. And see you two later."

"Congratulations Nigel, Sara," Bug continued before he hung up as well.

"So exactly who is going to be doing what in this wedding of yours?" Jordan asked after a moment.

"I haven't thought that far, I'm still reeling over the fact I'm pregnant and trying to figure out if I'm going to inform the father," Sara answered honestly.

"Hmm, can I tell the idiot back in Vegas?" Jordan asked, and Sara was suddenly thankful at least one person besides her and Nigel knew the entire story of what happened in Vegas. Then again so did Lily so that would make it two people…

"Go for it," Nigel spoke up keeping her from getting lost in her thoughts.

"Ooo, I heard that smack. You got Nigel good didn't you Sar?" Jordan teased.

"See if I get you any more clotted cream," Nigel complained before grinning and giving her a wink.

"No, no killing Griss," Sara began knowing Jordan was thinking about it and plotting it even as she plotted simply telling the man. "I'll let you know what I decide though. Need to sit and think and get this bloody nincompoop's honest opinion and all that fun. But we should let you get some sleep too Jor, talk to you later alright?"

"Fair enough, night you two."

"You don't have to decide today you know that love," Nigel began a few moments after the call was disconnected.

"I know," Sara sighed softly. "You know, right now I'm not going to worry about it. I'm engaged, have a wedding to plan, and just found out I'm going to be a mother in only a few months. I'm going to just enjoy this whole happy moment deal going on."

"Good," Nigel grinned. "So, we have a wedding in less than two months… any idea on how we want to do this?"

"Well, as much as I love you, we're not going to do something gothic," Sara teased as she rose to get her laptop.

"Damn, and here I was looking forward to freaking out Buggles."

"Insane man," Sara giggled as she powered up. "Hmm, let's see google or jeeves?"

"Jeeves."

Ok then… …wedding guide…" Sara began. "Who knew there were so sites for weddings," she continued shaking her head.

"I'll get munchies."

"Weird man, we're looking for information, not going to the movies," Sara called as he moved around their kitchen, while she looked at a few sites.

"Knock knock," Bea announced as she knocked on their door an hour later.

"Come on in…" Sara called as they looked at another site.

"Wanted to see if you wanted to join us for afternoon tea today," Bea explained as she walked into the flat and over to join them. "Ahh, we're planning a wedding? Does that mean you've picked a date?"

"Christmas Eve," Nigel answered.

"Oh lovely," Bea clapped her hands together. "How goes the planning?"

"Confusing," Sara chuckled. "These sites show how to plan but nothing in more detail I know there's something about colors and flowers and I'm just completely confused."

"Oh honey, don't worry. That's what having us around is for," Bea smiled. "Come on, Angie and Eliza are downstairs, and Abby is coming over. We'll help with the basics."

"Thanks you," Sara smiled with relief as they shut the laptop down.

"Your welcome," Bea smiled before they made their way downstairs.

* * *

**Review Responses:**

**JLE -** Thank you love, I know that's something my sister and I do, we never do short chapters for some reason :-) me a bit confused though honey... you can just see Nige and Jor together? did you mean Nige and Sara?

**Devisun -** Thank you :-) this is so cool the founder of my yahoo group is readin my story :-D

**Ttlover -** Hey honey, TY! I know I was a bit surprised when that arose as well, but it's so cool. We're not going to see the LV gang for another chapter or two, but we will see them when Sara sees them again :-)

**Iethena - **TY sweetheart, wow, that is the coolest thing hearing mine is the first good x-over you have found... just... Wow :-) TY for that :-) I know I can see them just being the best of friends :-) and I know the feeling I'm a GSR to the end, but I'm a Sara lover even more so I have fun pairing her with people that I'm sure she would be good together :-) I have every intention of giving them a happy ending ;-) but it's not going to be easy getting there -evil laughter-

As for Jor/Woody... it's more strictly a Sara/Nig story though we will have a few other couples. But not Jor/Woody in the long run. (personally I think he's put her through too much crap in the last few months and I at least would be like ok... can I trust him to stay around I mean sure he says he will but... yeah. that and this was written before the lastest developments in CJ so... I'm sorta ignoring anything in the show after the episode that had the alien abduction case that got dear Nigel's attention lol)  
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Angie B -** Thank you darlin' :-) updates are going to be every Thursday so you can kinda count down to next chapter if you want :-)

**charmed1818 -** Thank you so much :-) I'm glad you like the story :-)

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Please please review, I'll give you a cookie :-D 


	4. Chapter 3

Hey guys, I was sitting at my desk about 3 seconds ago when my brain went OH CRAP! it's Thursday!

so apologies for this being a bit later in the day than normal -shakes head- off to go set my computer up to remind me that it's Thursday from now on lol.

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**:-:-:-:-:-:  
Chapter 3  
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**Friday December 23rd, 2005  
****London, England  
****Heathrow Airport  
****Starbucks  
****5:01 a.m. (GMT)**

**:-:-:-:-:-:**

The next eight weeks seemed to fly by looking back on them. The wedding was planned, Nigel coming up with the idea of the London Eye as the ceremony sight. Sara had just shaken her head; their reception was going to be of course at the Swan Star, Mac insisting on doing the food. Abby made the dresses, while Eliza declared she was making the cake - it turned out the woman was a genius in the baking department. And as tribute to Nigel, they actually found these perfect invitations, well Angie had fun and took what they initially found as reference and created their own. The invitation had a color picture of a motorcycle on the left side, and thanks to Angie, the card also had a picture of Nigel when he was ten with what appeared to be one hand on the cycle, the other around the shoulders of Sara herself when she was six.

Angie spent hours digging through family albums and found a picture of Nigel, dressed up in their grandfather's clothing, big flying goggles on his head as he stood next to 'Pop's Baby', a twenties bi-plane – in the actual picture he had an arm around a second cousin. The harder picture to find had been Sara's, in the end the answer had come from the most unlikely source… after learning she was pregnant, Sara had finally done what she had been debating since learning her mother had been released from prison, and wrote her. Angie had taken it upon herself, after asking Sara if it was okay, to contact Laura Sidle as well and see if she had any pictures that fit the bill, and Laura had found just the one, from a day at the beach during happier times.

The wedding being taken care of, and confirmation of when the gang was arriving in London, Sara let her attention rest elsewhere. While Nigel helped with the store during the day, she could usually be found next door at Abby's, learning the basics, and then the more advanced forms of sewing, and often or not the two were joined by Bea and Angie whenever possible. When she wasn't at Abby's during the day, she was seeing her doctors – Nigel had finally convinced her she had to take care of herself, and to do so she had to face her past. So she was in therapy, and found herself a bit happier now; no longer as haunted by her past as she was back in Vegas. She and her therapist had realized that when she left Vegas she was depressed, and dealing with aspects of PTSD, long-term depression and PTSD weren't cured by her time in Boston, but she had a better support system there, even if she hadn't been looking for one. Thanks to that growing support system and a mild dose of Zoloft, she was on a continuing rise from the place she'd been in for so many years.

And while she was dealing with her past, preparing herself for being a mom and getting to know her own mother once more, Abby, Bea, Angie, Eliza, and Anne Marie were busy as well. Besides preparing for the wedding, the five had locked Nigel and Sara out of Abby's back room, and only a few days earlier, presented the two with an early Christmas present. They'd done a nursery. Knowing that they would be returning to Boston in time, the women had made the nursery movable. They had hit local second-hand shops and found a number of old silk screens, from there they had removed the original fabric and adding fabric they'd painted. Anne Marie had enjoyed telling them about the fun they'd had with fifteen panels taped to the wall as they sat and painted a scene across them all depicting an enchanted fairy land. At least that was what Anne Marie called it.

Along with the screens that ran along the walls, Abby had made a quilt, and there was a white dressing table decorated with small fairies and butterflies. A mobile with butterflies that played Brahms's Lullaby. They'd evilly laughed as they handed Nigel a screwdriver and the pieces to a crib, before taking Sara off for more gifts, baby clothes and more pieces for the new 'nursery'. He had come downstairs an hour later with a grin and announced he did it, and it wasn't that hard. All in all though, they were pretty much ready for the arrival of the baby that she hadn't known was coming until two months earlier.

That in itself had been a reason to chuckle for Nigel and Sara, they'd been eating a late snack one night when Nigel spoke up, commenting on how it was a surprise they hadn't seen the signs. Well even though the obvious missed period sign was explainable, he'd shook his head as he explained he had only then noticed that while the normal lack of one aspect of her cycle hadn't been odd, the lack of her PMS mood swings had. One reason she never had to answer questions, even to other women, about her lack of PMS, as far as anyone knew, she did have her cycle each month. Because while she didn't have the joy of actually having to deal with menstrual flow and all that each month, she still had the raging hormones and mood swings. Made for an interesting life really... They'd also laughed about the fifteen pounds she had gained since coming to Boston, and Lily's statement that 'all that work to get some weight on her was useless, it wasn't them after all'.

The last two months had been fun though, Braxton Hicks started only a week after they'd found out, and then the cravings really kicked in, though her sudden craving for meat over the months was now explained. Nigel would just shake his head when she'd wake him and he'd find himself heading to the closest 24-hour Subway for her Sweet Onion Chicken Teriyaki Sandwich. By now he was an expert at ordering a foot-long on wheat, heat the meat in the microwave then toast it with provolone cheese; lettuce, tomato, and pickle, with sweet onion sauce and he was headed back to the flat, back within fifteen minutes. By now they were use to the various pains and such, well as much as they could be all things considered. And it was just a countdown until the wedding and then the arrival of Gillian Rose.

She had decided a few things in regards to those in Vegas, besides the fact she was due back there a month ago and had sent a request to extend her LOA to the Director instead of Grissom. They also hadn't sent any announcements to Vegas, she hadn't been in contact with them since coming to London, and didn't want to raise any more questions and such than was necessary. That and she had this fear of Catherine or someone other than Grissom showing up at her wedding. And she wanted to see Grissom and tell him about his child in person. She had come to the decision that yes, Grissom deserved to know. More than that though, Rose, as they had decided to call her rather than by the first part of her first name, deserved to know her father. She was going to put everything in his court, no pressure; but she didn't want to tell him over the phone or through e-mail. Maybe it was selfish, maybe it was foolish, but she wanted to tell him in person, he deserved that, at least in her mind.

"Love," Nigel's voice drew her from her contemplation of the Chai Tea Latte in front of her. Glancing up she smiled sheepishly. "There you are, was starting to think that Tea had taken you captive," he teased before taking a sip of his own Gingerbread Latte.

"Nah, just thinking. What time is it?"

"Fifteen after, just checked the board, they should be landing any minute. Tail wind."

Sara nodded before glancing around the arrival area. They were seated in front of Starbucks, the meeting point for when Garret, Jordan, Bug, and Lily arrived that morning. The four had flown out of Boston the night before and would be staying until the twenty-seventh. "Can you believe in just nine weeks she's going to be here?"

"No, not really. But we're going to be fine love, promise."

"You've exceptionally optimistic you know that babe?" Sara chuckled.

"What do you expect, I somehow managed to lose the best thing that ever happened to me, only to get her back over ten-years-later."

"I think I've told you before, flattery will get you nowhere with me," Sara teased before taking a sip of her tea.

"Ehh… I'm a hard study," Nigel grinned.

"There they are!"

Turning in his chair Nigel grinned when he saw the group headed towards them, Garret and Bug found themselves with all the bags as Jordan and Lily rushed towards the table. "Need a bit of help boys?" he asked as he joined them, leaving Lily and Jordan to their attacks on Sara and questions about heaven only knew what women talk about.

"Oh just a bit," Garret smirked before loading Nigel up with bags.

"So how was the flight?" Nigel asked as they made their way back to Starbucks.

"Long, then again you should know that. But did you have to get married just in time for the busiest travel of the year?" Bug asked with a sigh.

"Well it was either that or wait until after the poppin is born," Nigel shrugged. "And you know, I think Sar wants to make it legal before then for some reason."

"Oh I'm pretty sure I know the reason, one bastard in the family is more than enough," Jordan spoke up with a smirk.

"Watch it love, I'll find a way to keep you locked up so you miss the big event," Nigel shot back with a smile.

"Okay, threats can continue later," Sara laughed. "I am tired, and sore, and dealing with that on a daily constant basis, I want out of this airport before I find the man who keeps making those announcements about the airport over and over every two minutes, and _kill_ him."

"Seeing as we don't want to create an international crisis that could result in having people from Boston and Vegas here, let's get the lady out of here," Garret smiled before everyone headed towards the waiting car, managing to stuff everyone into Angie's car, Sara in front because of needing more room. Within an hour they'd arrived at the Swan Star for breakfast, treating the gang to traditional English Breakfasts, and laughing when Jordan and Lily just stared in amazement as Bug seemed to eat more in one sitting then they'd seen him eat in a day back home. Let alone eat some of the stuff they had been sitting there looking at Sara and Nigel wondering just what it was, or how they were suppose to eat so very much.

After breakfast the group made their way to Angie's, who had offered to let the girls use her spare room, then to James' where the guys had a room waiting for them. The rest of the day was spent catching up, and filling everyone in on the plans for the wedding the next day and such.

**:-:-:-:-:-:**

**Saturday December 24th, 2005  
****London, England  
****British Airways London Eye  
****App. 442 feet / 135 meters above London  
****3:56 p.m. (GMT)**

**:-:-:-:-:-:**

Morning came all too soon for Sara, but she never had time to think about it really as before she knew it, she was at Bea's with Jordan, Lily, Angie, Eliza, Anne Marie and Abby being completely pampered and teased about being married. Bea and Angie did everyone's hair, Lily having the fun job of make-up. The day was rather fun, quiet and such, but fun. They didn't actually set to doing hair styles and such until after lunch away, before then just enjoying stories about Nigel and other embarrassing stories Jordan managed to remember from when she first met Sara what seemed a lifetime ago at times. By the time two rolled around though, everyone was dressed and ready, before they made the trip across town.

Because it was a Christmas wedding, they had decided to go with the obvious colors, Nigel was dressed in a black tux with a burgundy bow tie , as were James and Bug scarily enough, or so Bug kept muttering when he saw himself in the mirror. On the flip side, Jordan and Lily were wearing hunter green sheath dresses, with a deep scoop back to kinda match Sara's dress, and specially made beaded choker necklaces Anne Marie had done.

Sara's dress had been Abby's idea, and Sara had to admit she loved the 20's style dress, even with the extra weight from Rose, she was really not that far over the average weight for her size, to the constant reprimands from her soon to be in-law family about her health habits. The dress though, it was gorgeous. White satin, just as shade off of pure white, it had a scoop back, and a draped front, with a bit of fabric actually going over her shoulder, a second piece of fabric dropping on her arm. It was basically a sheath dress, with a full train and her veil as well was floor-length, connected to a circlet of red and white roses. Her hair was done in ringlets, and to give a bit of warmth in the cold weather, she had a white cape to get her to the Eye and back to the Swan Star.

When they arrived at the Eye, a private capsule was waiting, decorated with flowers to match the theme and go with the Burgundy roses Jordan and Lily carried. Everyone was there, Bea and those from London, even Nigel's father came. Garret 'gave her away' as they began the accent. For the most part though, Sara and Nigel didn't notice anything going on around them as the man from the Lamberth Registry Office spoke. Until they were required to actively participate of course.

"Do you, Sara Lynn Opal Sidle, take this man to be your lawfully wedding husband? To have and to hold, for richer or poorer, in sickness and in health. Through the good times and the bad, will you love, honor, and cherish him all the days of your life?"

"With all my heart and soul, I do," Sara smiled softly.

"Do you, Nigel Eames Townsend…"

"I do," Nigel interrupted. "Sorry love," he continued a bit sheepish.

Sara laughed before glancing at the man and shrugging slightly as the other guests chuckled.

"Well, then onto the rings I suppose," he smiled before Anne Marie stepped forward with the rings.

"With this ring, I thee wed," Nigel began as he slipped the ring on her finger.

"With this ring, I thee wed," Sara answered with a smile.

"With this by the power invested in me, I now pronounce you man and wife," he spoke just as they reached the top of the ride, Sara and Nigel sharing their first kiss as a married couple on cue before everyone began to clap.

The trip back to the ground, they had champagne to enjoy, other than Sara, and pictures were taken by Ol' Timothy both in the capsule, and once back on the ground. Not long later, they were back at the Swan Star, where everyone they knew from the Swan was waiting, the place equally decorated to match the capsule. After a rather quiet dinner, the party finally got started, James producing the music for the night. Everyone danced: Jordan and Garret, Bug and Lily, Garret stole Sara from Nigel for a dance, and the girls even had a dance to themselves. Sara's favorite moments though were when Nigel produced a CD bearing the song, At the Beginning; their song as it had been deemed, and when he'd sat there and sung 10,000 Miles to her to the laughter of everyone. The cake was cut, Eliza really outdoing herself with a cake that even had a ribbon bearing Nigel's mother's family tartan, and someone even found a cake top that had a bridal couple with a motorcycle. They both had to wonder though how they managed to find a groom with shoulder-length black hair…

The bouquet was tossed, Lily catching it; and the garter as well, causing much enjoyment on Jordan and Nigel's part when they found themselves with new material to tease Bug about, and making sure Ol' Timothy got plenty of pictures of Bug and Lily dancing the traditional dance. Finally though, Nigel and Sara made their escape to their home, leaving everyone to enjoy the rest of the night.

**:-:-:-:-:-:**

**Tuesday January 24th, 2006  
****London, England  
****Local Hospital  
****5:48 p.m. (GMT)**

**:-:-:-:-:-:**

"You tell me it's going to be okay one more time and I'll break your hand," Sara ground out through her clenched teeth.

"Okay love, so want to plan ways to kill Dr. Grissom then?" Nigel asked as he brushed the hair back from her forehead.

"I don't want him dead, but I would seriously kill to have him here to give him the hell for this instead of you," Sara sighed, relaxing as another contraction eased.

Sighing mentally, Nigel thought back over the last weeks, and sent a silent prayer that this wouldn't go on much longer. It had been a month exactly since their wedding, the gang from Boston staying until the New Year before heading home. While they had been there, they'd done everything in London, before even going to Paris for a day. They'd even gone to Madame Tussaud's and had pictures taken with 'celebrities' they would never meet… One of the more memorable pictures being of Jordan, Lily, and Sara all by the Brad Pitt model that had a life-like squeezable 'toosh' and they were comparing opinions on it together.

After they'd gone back to Boston though, they settled down to wait for the February ninth, when Sara was due, and wait to hear for the final paperwork for Nigel so they would know when they could go home. Two weeks before the big day, Nigel was at the Swan Star making sure the final arrangements for the Baby Shower were done when he and Mac heard Abby yelling from down the street that he "better get his bleedin' arse back to the shop or they were leaving for the hospital without him" Twenty-six hours later, Sara was far from a happy woman, and she was beyond sick and tired of everyone telling her it was going to be okay.

Thankfully, it only took another three hours for everything to be over, and as Rose was whisked away by the nursing staff and another nurse took care of Sara, Nigel slipped out to let everyone know the news. He wasn't surprised to find everyone from the family there.

"Well?" Bea asked when she spotted him.

"It's a girl…"

"We already knew that!" Anne Marie interrupted.

"Impatient little imp aren't you?" Nigel countered with a smile. "It's a girl, Gillian Rose as you know, 6-pounds 9.6-ounces and she's 21.63-inches. They're taking her to check her over and make sure everything's okay since she came early. Sara's fine, exhausted and such, but fine. Going to head back… he continued hooking one thumb over his shoulder.

"Go, tell her we love her and can't wait to see her and the little one," Bea smiled, Angie and Eliza already on their way out of the room cell phones in hand. Calls were about to be made to the Swan Star and Boston no doubt. Nodding at his Aunt, he smiled before heading back to Sara's side.

**:-:-:**

Hours later, everyone had headed home leaving Sara and Nigel to some time alone with Rose. The doctors had declared her fit, though they planned to keep her two days extra than Sara, just to be sure. For now though, they were enjoying some quiet time, just the three of them.

"She's gorgeous love, you did wonderful," Nigel smiled as he brushed a dark brown curl from Rose's forehead as she slept in Sara's arms.

"Technically I don't get all the credit," Sara sighed softly. "She's got his eyes…"

"Bloody lovely eyes they are too, best thing for her to get from him," Nigel countered with a smile.

"God you're nuts Nige," Sara smiled up at him.

"Hey, you're the one who named my step-daughter Garnet."

"At your insistence," Sara countered, rolling her eyes.

"It's a lovely tradition though sweetheart. I mean you have a two part first name, your middle name being a gemstone. Your brother was the same way… I'll take credit for that, but you're the one who picked Garnet of the gemstone choices based on her birthstone, zodiac stone, and day stone."

"It flows better, Gillian Rose Garnet Grissom, instead of Gillian Rose Amethyst Grissom……. So bite me," Sara teased.

"Not until we're back home," Nigel countered with a wink before a knock on the door revealed a nurse there to take Rose back to the nursery.

**:-:-:-:-:-:**

**Sunday May 21st, 2006  
****Boston, Massachusetts  
****Townsend Flat  
****9:31 p.m. (EST)**

**:-:-:-:-:-:**

By the time Nigel's papers came through, Rose was three-and-a-half months old, and spoiled rotten by Bea and the rest of her 'stepfamily'. Two weeks after his green card was in hand, they were flying back to the states and Boston, and plans for the trip back to Vegas put on hold while Sara set about to getting things settled, arranging their new home while Nigel returned to work, Sara's two months still in suspension until after the traditional period of maternity leave.

They had been enjoying getting back into the swing of things, and Sara was getting use to having Woody around since he finally apologized to Jordan while the Townsend family was in London. There was still tension there for the could-have-been couple, Jordan having also been dating a reporter she knew, when Sara and Nigel returned. Though that didn't last long when Paul went and wrote an article about Woody calling him a bad cop, same time that Nigel found himself with the bone of all bones in the paranormal universe – a body the significant other claimed had been abducted by aliens years earlier and she needed it so the aliens could take the man home. Sara had just shaken her head when he was trying to prove the theory, sharing e-mails with Bea about the insanity since Nigel was partially obsessed thanks to his uncle, Bea's twin, claiming to have been abducted. When she found out Nigel had signed the body out and risked his career, so soon after getting it back… then she'd stepped in and went up one side and down the other of her eccentric husband. Fortunately, Garret had given Nigel a yelling of his own, then let it slide, this once, because the body was returned before morning. Thanks mostly to Sara being concerned about where her husband was and calling Bug, who knew where to look… and found Nigel and the dead man's significant other sound asleep a few feet from the body.

All in all though, with the exception of those few incidents, they were happily enjoying life. So when Sara had gone in for Rose's check-up, then her own – the last thing she had expected was the news she got. And while she waited for Nigel to get home… she considered all the ways she could get away with a home vasectomy.

"Hi love," he called softly when he entered the apartment finally, and Sara flipped on the light in the living room so he could see her. "You're up late…"

"I'm pissed," she answered with a shrug. "Kinda can't sleep…"

"Everything ok?" he asked concerned as he left his long familiar yellow helmet on the counter, his jacket on a chair, before crossing the room to her side.

"Oh it's peachy," Sara smiled more to keep from crying. "You know, I'm not sure who to yell at more, God for his insane sense of amusement, or you for your soldiers. I mean come on, I manage to avoid knowing I'm pregnant for five months, only to learn and have a wonderfully insane four months of my pregnancy… and just when I'm getting close to having a figure again, even if it is one a bit more round than I had when I first came to Boston…. And now I get another shot to enjoy all nine months…." Sara ranted, somehow keeping her voice down as she did so.

"Wait… back up the proverbial train love… did you just say you're pregnant in all that?" Nigel asked shaking his head slightly as he tried to keep up.

"No, I'm going to gain forty pounds of weight just because I want to," Sara rolled her eyes before sighing heavily. "God Nige… don't get me wrong we both know that us having a kid isn't a bad thing, nor unwelcome… but I just got through one pregnancy less than six-months-ago… I'm not ready to go there again. And I need to get my ass back to Vegas to take care of things there… and I've already been told by my doctor that once again, I'm not allowed to fly anywhere…… God I hate my screwed up, royally fucked over reproductive system."

"Shh, it's going to be alright love," Nigel whispered as he pulled her from the chair to join him on the floor. "I'm not going anywhere, and you can beat the crap out of my anytime you feel like it okay? Hell's bells… Bug will sell tickets and Jordan will get the Pogue to provide refreshments okay?"

Sara snorted a laugh as she cried before burying her head in Nigel's shoulder. "God I'm still getting you fixed, and then getting myself fixed too to stop this insanity once and for all…"

"Sounds good to me, just… I know we're both certified to cut up people and all that, let's let the ones who actually tend to work with live people do it though," Nigel grinned before she reached up to smack the back of his head lightly.

"What about Vegas though?" Sara asked softly sometime later when she was calm once more.

"We'll figure something out… so you can't fly. There are other ways to get from here to there… But right now… let's get you to bed alright? I'm tired, I'm sure you're tired, we have a two-am feeding to worry about and it's bloody freezing…."

"Alright," Sara agreed with a small sigh. She was too old to be chasing two toddlers around a house in a few years…

When the news finally was revealed just two weeks later that it was actually going to be three… she really hit Nigel over the back of his head. And he was left grumbling about the blasted advancements in technology that let one hear heartbeats at twenty-eight days and diagnose pregnancies as early as five days before the missed period… he wasn't sure his poor cranium could take any more spousal abuse.

**:-:-:-:-:-:**

**Wednesday June 21st, 2006  
****Boston, Massachusetts  
****The Pogue  
****8:35 a.m. (EST)**

**:-:-:-:-:-:**

"Be careful driving," Nigel repeated for the twentieth time that morning, causing Jordan and Lily to share a roll of their eyes.

"Nige… trust us, we always are. We aren't going to put your girls, and as of yet unknown sex offspring, in any danger," Jordan smiled as she bounced almost five-month Rose on her knee.

Sighing Nigel gave both women a rather sheepish smile, "Sorry loves."

"Relax Nigel, we're going to be fine. It's only a three day drive to Vegas, and you guys will be joining us the thirtieth so…. Until then, we'll take good care of our girl and make sure that those imbeciles there don't do anything to stress her out too much, for her sake and the babies," Lily assured him.

"He's still driving you batty is he?" Sara asked with a smile when she walked up behind the booth and wrapped her arms around his neck from behind. "Relax babe, we're going to be fine. The girls and I will enjoy a few 'girl only' days then all of you get to join us for a real 4th of July celebration in Vegas. God only knows why everyone wants to be there but who am I to argue right?"

"Right," Woody agreed, ignoring the exasperated look she gave him momentarily, they still weren't on completely friendly terms…

"Come on, we need to get going," Sara continued after a moment. Everyone rose from the table and headed out of the bar to the car that was waiting for the three women, already packed and ready to go. They were taking Jordan's car, some reason it seemed more right to take her mustang than anyone else's vehicle on a cross-country road trip. Goodbyes were exchanged, Nigel giving Sara a longer hug than normal and she reassured him once more she would be fine, before the male members of their group were left standing in front of the Pogue watching as the red car disappeared from sight.

* * *

**Reader Responses**

**Charmed1818 -** hey sweetheart :-) Thank you, I needed to hear someone loved it :-) you were my first review on the last chapter :-). My bird got the cookies before I could send them out ;-) but I am working on those pictures so yeah... lol Hope you liked this chapter :-)

**Oracle-AFK -** hey love, first, I'm keeping your cookie for trying to possess me ;-) But thanks for reviewing (both times ;-) )

* * *

Next chapter will be Thursday, and in the works are a few pictures and such to go along with this story. :-)

Please review though :-)


	5. Chapter 4

Side note, the original version of this chapter including all the song lyrics - which you might want to read that was as it might make more sense ;-) is at my website.

www. geocities. com/ pennsylvania (underscore) carebear/ OiaL5. html

you just have to put it all together (and put the actual symbol in place of "underscore") seeing as doesn't let you include links here ;-)

* * *

**:-:-:-:-:-:  
Chapter 4  
:-:-:-:-:-:**

**:-:-:-:-:-:**

**Sunday June 25th, 2006  
****Las Vegas, Nevada  
****North Star Lounge  
****11:25 p.m. (PST)**

**:-:-:-:-:-:**

"So we have a robbery at North Star Lounge that Dayshift just decided to leave for us or something?" Greg asked as he drove.

"I doubt they did it on purpose Greg," Grissom sighed as he glanced out the window.

"So Sara's due back tomorrow right?" Greg tried for a different topic, all of them eager to have her back.

"Yes," Grissom smiled for the first time that night.

"Cool, kinda a shock though, almost ten months without anything then suddenly BOOM, she's coming back. Wonder what she's been up to…"

"Especially seeing as we couldn't find her through all our looking over the last nine months," Nick spoke up from the back seat with a smile.

"Exactly," Greg chuckled as he pulled into the parking lot of the North Star Lounge. "Wonder if anyone's singing tonight that's worth anything…" he mused as they exited the car and gathered their gear.

"Well hopefully we'll have nice background noise instead of someone who can't sing worth their salt," Nick countered as they headed inside.

"ABBA," Greg grinned, "Did you know they made a musical based on the music a few years ago?"

"No kidding, it's playing here in Vegas," Nick rolled his eyes as the manager came over to talk to them.

**:-:-:**

"You know Sar, I love your mother," Jordan laughed as she returned to their table with a new round of drinks. "She comes to Vegas when she hears we're coming, and the first night she has a chance to see you since you were twelve, she offers to baby-sit so we can go out and have some time to ourselves," she continued as she handed Sara her Sprite.

"I know, very interesting isn't it?" Lily mused. "Though I'm a bit more surprised our Sara left her daughter with her mother to be honest."

"That makes two of us," Sara laughed, even she had been surprised at how easy she'd been able to leave her daughter with the woman she hadn't seen over half her life and had only been in contact with for eight months. Then again, she was a much different woman than she had been the last time she was in this city.

"Alright then, so we're at a karaoke bar, and have yet to sing, ladies, I think it's time," Jordan announced after a few minutes.

"You mean before the guys gets here next week and we have to sing in front of them right?" Lily asked with a smile

"Exactly. I've been there and done that with Woody, I'm not singing in front of all of them."

"Except for when you were in London of course," Sara teased as she rose and headed to grab one of the books with the options. Fifteen minutes later they were heading up to the stage for their chance to sing.

**:-:-:**

"Holy Crap, you guys have to see this," Greg stopped them as he came back from the restroom when they were heading back to the car after gathering their evidence.

"Greg…" Grissom began.

"No, its Sara, she's walking on stage. And she's HOT!" Greg argued before turning and heading back towards the lounge. Grissom and Nick glanced at each other before following after him.

Sure enough, Sara was up on stage, accompanied by two other women. As the music of Abba's Dancing Queenbegan to play, the three men made their way inside.

One woman had curly dark hair that fell to mid-back, and was wearing black leather pants and a mauve lace shell top. As the first verse started, she walked a few steps ahead of Sara and the other woman to sing the first verse.

The other woman had blonde straight hair, ending at her shoulders, and was wearing a red denim skirt that ended just below her knees and a black tank top. She never took the lead while singing, instead staying back with Sara, and then Jordan as they did a little dance that seemed to be planned in its unity.

The real shocker was Sara, her hair was curly instead of straightened like she always wore it, a few inches longer than it was when she left. She was wearing a deep purple satin dress, spaghetti straps, that ended at her knees, with black ballet like slippers that had ribbons wrapping up her legs. As the second verse began she walked forward on the stage, closer to where the three men now stood and they could see all of her outfit.

Besides the surprising clothing choice, she had a good deal of jewelry on, a purple ribbon choker with an amethyst in the center, a long gold chain that had a cross resting under her breast - a cross with four black pearls, one at each end and an opal in the center. On her left hand there was a rope of black pearls wrapped around her wrist three times, and a gold ring they barely got a glimpse of on her hand – her left arm being the one not holding the mic, therefore it was the one moving more. On her right hand and arm, she had a silver ring on her ring finger and a silver link bracelet on her wrist, with a dozen or so different stones dangling from the bracelet.

Her verse done, Sara turned around once as her companions joined her, the three dancing and singing the chorus once more before striking a pose when it was done.

As the audience clapped, Sara glanced over at Jordan and Lily before all three started laughing. It was fun, but the fact that any of them did it was insane. And there was no way they were letting Nigel know it.

Then she saw them…

**:-:-:-:-:-:**

After the applause died down, Sara, Jordan, and Lily went to make their way off-stage, only to find the three CSIs waiting for them…

"Sara?" Grissom spoke first before looking her over once more, then glancing at her companions. "What are you doing here?"

"Shouldn't that be obvious?" Jordan countered.

"Actually I was referring to the fact she wasn't due back in Vegas as far as I knew until next week Miss…"

"Cavanaugh, Jordan Cavanaugh," she answered immediately. "Shouldn't the better question be what the three of you are doing here since you do work the Graveyard shift?"

"Jordan…" Sara whispered shooting her a look that caused Jordan to sigh before stepping down. "Griss, Nick, Greg…" Sara nodded to them. "Good to see you. We arrived yesterday actually, and are just enjoying a night on the town. I'm sure the three of you have to get back to work so… if you'll excuse us," she continued before the three moved to go past them.

"I'm Nick Stokes, this is Greg Sanders and our boss Grissom," Nick spoke up quickly.

"Lily Lebowski, nice to meet you," Lily answered with a small smile. This was the last thing any of them expected for the night…

When none of the men moved, Sara sighed before glancing at Jordan and Lily. "Well, it would appear we aren't leaving the stage, so another song then?"

"Sounds good to me," Jordan nodded as Lily glanced between them in shock before following them up on the stage just the same, the audience quickly showing their appreciation for an encore. "And you know what, if we have to, we'll just stay here until they leave, or we're kicked off stage."

"You're joking…" Lily whispered back as Sara walked over to select the next song.

"You want to deal with Nigel when he finds out Sara got corned by that man?" Jordan countered glancing back at the three who still stood by the stairs. "Cause I don't."

"Ugh… alright," Lily agreed with a sigh as Sara joined them. "So what are we singing.

"More Abba, they have the Mamma Mia soundtrack that Anne Marie tortured me with. There are a few songs that I think are perfect for this…"

"Okay…" Lily answered releasing a deep breath as the music began. Sara taking the lead on One Of Us.

The entire time she sang, Sara's gaze never left Grissom, before the music changed as she requested. Of any song she ever heard in the last year, this one had been the one that sounded most like her relationship with the man not ten feet from her, Abba's The Winner Takes It All.

She saw Nick look away before glancing at Grissom, then Greg do the same. They knew what she was saying… they'd always known. She doubted anyone in the lab hadn't known of her feelings for the man she had once been willing to give everything up for.

He finally looked away, yes, she'd known about Lady Heather, the relationship however short it was. And all the other women he had dated, he could have even seen women after what happened that night and her leaving… She didn't care anymore though… let him feel guilty if he wished, it was to himself he had to answer now

He looked back at her finally, and she smiled slightly, more of a smirk perhaps…

She hadn't noticed the doors opening while she sang, Jordan and Lily had, and were going to tell her when she finished singing. But by then the man in charge of the karaoke machine had a new song request, and another Abba song began to play, I Do, I Do, I Do.

Sara quickly looked around, recognizing the voice, behind her Jordan and Lily shared a grin before taking over singing.

Sara mentally shook her head when she heard their prompting, before she finally spotted him in the back of the room, making his way towards the stage. Smiling she shook her head slightly, she didn't know what the hell he was doing here already, but at the moment she didn't care.

Nigel grinned back as he cleared the tables, and Lily and Jordan asked their question with a glance at each other and a laugh.

Sara paused, shaking her head once more as she looked down at him, he didn't have a microphone or anything, had just joined in…

Jordan and Lily shook their heads once more before taking up the song, catching Bug and Garret shaking their own head across the room, and looking over to see the three CSIs staring in shock at the scene before them.

Sara wasn't sure why the next song,I Have A Dreambegan, but she didn't question it either, the man had probably forgotten to stop the track… Regardless, she smiled as she reached out and Nigel grabbed her hand as she began to sing, he the only person in the room now to her.

Jordan and Lily smiled at how lost Sara was in Nigel, and he in her before picking up the chorus as Sara remained silent, simply staring at the man who they knew had taken the risk for her.

As Lily and Jordan trailed off, Sara picked up right on cue, shaking her head lightly when Nigel pulled her arm forward enough to drop a kiss on the back of her hand.

When she finally looked away from Nigel, she glanced over at the stairs to find the three men she had left behind still staring in shock, turning her attention back to Nigel, she knelt down to set the microphone on the stage before he reached up and easily lifted her to the floor so she wouldn't have to go walk by them.

As Jordan and Lily walked past the three, Jordan couldn't help looking up at Grissom and smirking. "Really screwed that one up didn't you Doctor, you blew the best thing that ever happened to you…"

No one saw it coming when Grissom stalked across the room and slugged Nigel…

**:-:-:-:-:-:**

Sitting straight up in bed, Sara tried to catch her breath as she glanced around to make sure she hadn't woke up the others in the room. She was swearing off Abba music, it had been bad enough Grissom, Nick, and Greg had seen her singing Dancing Queen in real life… if they had actually lived through her bloody dream…

Shaking her head she carefully left the bed and made her way to the bathroom to wash her face. She was not looking forward to tonight.

**:-:-:-:-:-:**

**Monday June 26th, 2006  
****Las Vegas, Nevada  
****LVPD Crime Lab  
****9:21 p.m. (PST)**

**:-:-:-:-:-:**

"Sara Sidle, I thought you were due back Monday,"

"It _is_ Monday Gil," she countered gently when she realized he wasn't going to mention the night before, seeing the surprise in his eyes at the use of his first name. Moving into the room, she handed him her folder before sitting down as he looked at the manila file in his hands.

"What's this?" he asked with a frown as he read the papers. With his flipping through them all so fast, she wasn't sure which one he was talking about, and remained silent for him to continue. Then when the look of complete shock registered on his face, she realized what papers he _had_ been talking about, and what papers he was _now_ looking at.

"You're putting in your official notice, offering four weeks, and you're putting in for a lightened load due to medical restrictions? After you stayed gone an additional seven months?" he asked finally looking up to stare at her. "Good God Sara, I agreed to your LOA when we were already understaffed because you said you'd be coming back!"

Sara frowned at the accusation in his voice, "_Actually_, I said I _might_ come back," she countered.

"What the hell happened over the last seven months?" he asked looking back to the folder.

"Quite a lot actually…" Sara sighed.

"This because of those women you were with last night?"

"Their names are Jordan Cavanaugh and Lily Lebowski, and no, they aren't responsible for this. They're friends of mine, and co-workers, who drove with me out here," Sara sighed. She should have expected much of this.

"Co-workers?" Grissom asked instead of commenting on the rest of the statement.

"Yes, I have a job with the Boston PD's Coroner's Office waiting for me. Jordan is the deputy Chief ME, and Lily is the ME's Grief Counselor. I work as a Criminalist and ME there."

"And they're just letting you go for a month?" he countered.

"Well not exactly, I'm on leave," Sara shrugged slightly, not wanting to go into the fact she was on maternity leave just yet. She preferred to have that conversation when they weren't at work.

"I see," he nodded once.

"There's something else," Sara began after a moment. "The reason I've requested medical restrictions… I'm pregnant… two-and-a-half months. I want you to know before the grapevine starts… I'm married Gil."

His eyes went from total shock, to intense sadness before he slipped behind his mask, "Congratulations."

"Thank you," Sara began, "Look, there's a lot to talk about… have breakfast with me after shift… please."

"I don't know…"

"Please Gil. There's stuff we need to get out in the open. To do with why I left. We can't work together with all of it unspoken."

"All right," he agreed reluctantly.

"Thank you," Sara nodded. "I'll let you get back to work and will see you in the break room," she continued before seeing his nod and she rose to quickly leave his office. She made her way to the Locker Room, finding an empty locker to leave her things in and slipped a lock on it before heading towards the roof for a bit of peace and quiet for a few minutes. Flipping open her phone, she hit speed dial.

"Hey you," Jordan answered on the first ring, "How's it going?"

"Not so sure yet, got the paperwork done and saw Grissom. He's not happy, but he knows I'm pregnant and married…"

"He agree to breakfast?"

"He didn't want to… how's my girl?"

"She's fine, sound asleep at the moment. Lil and I are watching another one of those cop shows, I swear they make it look like it's _so_ easy."

Sara laughed as she learned back against the door. "I hear you, let me guess they have the criminal in the first fifteen minutes?"

"Twenty-one," Jordan laughed. "And the D.A.'s gotten all of his motions and objections. So unrealistic."

"Well, as much as I hate to end this, I should head down to the Break Room, they're probably waiting… enjoy the show."

"Will do," Jordan answered. "Take care of yourself and those two."

"Promise, see you by lunch time at the latest hopefully," Sara countered before hanging up. Taking a deep breath she made her way downstairs to the Break Room, not surprised to see Greg, Nick, Warrick, and Catherine waiting. She'd heard the team was reunited in an e-mail from Greg before she went off the radar, also heard that Sophia had gone to the other side. Was probably a detective by now…

Leaning on the doorjamb she watched for a moment as Catherine flipped through a magazine on the couch, the only one facing her, as Greg made a cup of coffee, Nick and Warrick on the same side of the table, their backs to her, talking.

"Is that the good stuff?" Sara asked finally, smiling as everyone looked towards the doorway.

"Sara," Catherine smiled, surprising to Sara's point of view, she was the first person up and across the room to her side… The first to give her a hug… "Welcome back."

"Thank you," Sara smiled as Catherine stepped back. Maybe time apart had been able to… if not heal, at least close old wounds.

"God girl, you look great," Warrick was the next by her side. "We've missed you around here," he continued with a grin. "Guess Greg and Nick weren't having a hallucination last night were they?"

"No," Sara chuckled as she glanced over at the two. "What were you guys doing at the North Star anyway?"

"B and E," Greg shrugged. "Now seeing you there actually made it worth while. Cath didn't believe us when we described your outfit though…"

"I didn't believe it and I saw it," Nick countered with a smile. "Rick's right Sar, you look good. Though you realize we _are_ going to kill you right?"

"You can't kill me," Sara countered as she came into the room to be grabbed by first Nick, then Greg in hugs, Nick's a bear hug, Greg's a bit more leaving her with the need to breathe.

"And why's that?" Catherine asked with a smile as Sara sat down at the table.

"Coffee?" Greg began as he grabbed her cup that had been sitting in the cupboard waiting for her.

"No thanks," she answered before turning her attention to Catherine, only to find the other woman staring at her in shock. Glancing around she found the others looking at her with similar expressions. "Oh… don't panic I haven't been replaced by a clone or something," she began quickly. Then realized how much her husband would have been the first person to think that up and realized how much he was wearing off on her. "I can't drink coffee, too much caffeine."

"You realize that just made us even more curious and concerned right…" Catherine countered after a moment.

Sighing Sara thought back to why she was determined to let Grissom know these things before shift started, she had a feeling this would happen, and couldn't just not answer really… "Well, I can't have coffee because I'm pregnant," she answered after a beat, wondering if they were going to explode, or stare in shock after this…

"Oh my God!" Greg yelled. "No! It's wrong…. Now there's no chance," he continued with a puppy dog look.

"For you or the rest of those in this lab?" Catherine countered.

Shaking her head slightly, Sara knew that Catherine was including a certain member of the lab in that remark. She wasn't going to be the one to tell them what happened between her and Grissom… "Well, everyone is going to have to just accept it won't they," she asked with a smile to show there was no hard feelings prompting the statement.

"When are you due?" Catherine asked with a smile.

"January, though I suspect I'll be in labor sooner than that," Sara smiled softly, unconsciously laying a hand on her womb. "Twins."

"Congratulations girl," Warrick smiled as he sat next to her. "Not to pull an over-protective brother move or nothing, but…"

"No jumping to conclusions guys," Sara began quickly, sensing where this was going. "His name is Nigel, you'll get to meet him just in time for the fourth, he and two more of our co-workers are coming out for the holiday."

"You worked together while you were gone?" Greg asked as he flopped into another chair near her.

"Yes, he's a Criminalist with the Boston PD Coronor's Office. Dr. Nigel Townsend, and… we've been married six months," she added carefully.

"What!" Catherine exclaimed. "You didn't tell us you were getting married?"

"I was sort of out of the country…" she offered really not wanting to go into the real reason. "I'm not the only one who didn't tell you I got married until after the fact!"

"Oh nice try at deflection," Warrick chuckled. "Not going to work girl, I told them within a matter of days… you're six months behind."

"And what's this about 'out of the country'?" Nick asked.

"Nigel is British, we went back to London just after my birthday, were there until only a few months ago."

"So that's why the e-mails stopped," Greg nodded.

"But why were you in England so long?" Catherine asked before they heard a throat being cleared and turned to find Grissom in the doorway. Sara noticed that the others in the room immediately looked everywhere but at Grissom or her. Shaking her head lightly she smiled at him while he walked in the room.

Twenty minutes later, everyone had left for scenes, and she was doing paperwork while keeping an eye on the clock as the hours ticked down until her breakfast with Grissom.

**:-:-:-:-:-:**

**Tuesday June 27th, 2006  
****Las Vegas, Nevada  
****Local Park  
****8:15 a.m. (PST)**

**:-:-:-:-:-:**

Eight o'clock exactly, Grissom and Sara left the lab and headed over to pick up breakfast from the local diner, before Sara suggested since it was such a nice morning, they eat outside. In reality, she wanted to give him room to pace or anything really without fear of creating a scene in a restaurant. She ate more because she knew she had to for the babies than because she was hungry or even had an appetite.

"How long have you been married?" he asked first.

Glancing over at him Sara smiled softly, he was trying, it was a start. "Just over six-months. Christmas Eve," she answered as she cut her ham. Seeing the look he was giving to the meat she chuckled. "I started eating meat almost a year ago, today ham sounded particularly good."

"Of course."

"Gil…" she began before sighing and setting her food aside. Turning on the picnic table she watched him in silence for a moment before he looked at her. "I'll admit I don't understand why you did that… but I don't need to know anymore."

"I am sorry for leaving that morning Sara, I didn't handle all of that well… Now it would seem it's too late." He answered finally after a few minutes.

"I still care for you Gil, I always will. But I love Nigel, he took the risk…" she shrugged slightly. "We actually dated when I was in college, met again when I arrived in Boston. It wasn't like I just went and fell in love with the first guy after… what I wanted for us wasn't that superficial…"

He didn't answer, simply nodded once as he looked out across the park. After five minutes at least, he looked over at her. "Why tell me this? You don't owe me any explanations Sara…"

"Because there's something else you need to know," she explained softly. "I… I have a daughter Gil," she began, her practiced speech going out the window, and any thing she might have remembered disappearing when she saw the surprise on his face. "She's five-months-old."

"Five months… January…" he spoke and she watched as he did the math in his head before looking at her confused.

"We call her Rose, she was born two weeks early… I uh… I didn't know I was pregnant until October. I have a… unique medical condition. By the time I found out, I was in London… and was informed I couldn't fly until after I delivered… It…. it wasn't something I thought I should tell her father over the phone," she finished softly.

She watched in silence when he pushed himself off the table and walked away before stopping across the grass, a good fifteen feet away. Pulling her legs up, she sat with one arm around her knees, just watching him, and picking at her meal with her free hand along the way. Finally though, when she realized she had picked at her breakfast until it was gone, he turned and made his way back to the table, stopping a few feet in front of her, hands in his pockets as he watched her.

"What's her name? Besides Rose?" he asked after a moment.

"Gillian Rose, Gillian Rose Garnet Grissom is her full name," Sara smiled softly at the thought of her daughter across town. "She's got your eyes, Nige says she's got my lips but I don't know… she does have my hair color although her hair is more ringlet like than my curls ever were, I think she gets those from you…"

"Rose is my mother's name…" he whispered. "You gave her my last name?"

"She's your daughter Gil. Nigel may be my husband and her stepfather, but she is _your_ daughter. Regardless of what tomorrow holds… I wouldn't deny her or you that," she shrugged lightly. "Before we talk anymore, I need to make something clear…" she continued, waiting to see him nod. "I'm not telling you this because I want something from you. I don't want money or anything like that," her hand went up to stop him when he started to speak. "I'm serious Gil, I don't want you thinking I'm here now because I am one of those women who come to men just for the money. I don't need it. The reason I'm here is simply because you are her father, and she's your daughter. She deserves to know you, and you deserve to know her. But I'm not going to make that choice for you, it's in your hands. Part of the reason I'm staying a month, to give you time to think about it… if you decide you want nothing to do with her, then I won't force you to be a part of her life. But if you _do_ decide you want to be a part of her life, to know your daughter… we'll figure it out. I won't keep her from you."

Grissom nodded slowly when she was done before moving and sitting down next to her. "I'll be honest Sara… I never pictured myself with a child. I don't know if I can be a father… I don't know how…"

"I know the feeling," Sara smiled. "I never thought I could be a mom, times I still think I'm going to screw up, and I have two more on the way…" she shook her head. "You don't need to make a decision now Gil, but I wanted you to know as soon as possible so you had time to think about it."

"Thank you… for telling me, and giving me time," he smiled slightly. "Is she with your husband?"

"Actually no, she's here in Vegas," Sara replied honestly. "My mom came up for the weekend to see me again; I contacted her from London after I started therapy. She wanted to see me and watched Rose last night so the three of us could have a night out. She's gone back to California now, Jordan and Lily are taking care of her while I work."

He nodded once more, disappearing into thought for a moment before turning to look at her. "Can… Would you let me see her sometime?"

"Of course," Sara smiled reassuringly; he almost looked like a lost little boy when he asked that. "I'm pretty sure when the team finds out they're going to want to see her, if you want, before they do you can see her. And if you want, I won't tell them her last name initially… it's your place to tell them she's yours. Your terms okay?"

"Okay," Grissom smiled before looking back out to the horizon, a small smile playing at his lips. Smiling to herself, Sara sat back to watch as the park came alive.

* * *

**Reader Responses:**

**Spikes-Storm** - hey sweetheart,nice seeing you again :-) AndI'm glad to hear you love it :-)

**Marie-Solie** - Hey love, thanks for the review, although Nigel would wear eyeliner (and has) and is also goth. I admit this story may be a bit out of character (that's the joy of fanfiction) though I did try to keep it in character as much as possible. I'm sorry you don't like it though... Only thing I can suggest is don't read anymore because it's not going to change much in the theme and the way the characters act...

**Daynaa** - hey honey, lol you're going to have to share your CJ/CSI crossover :-). I'm glad you like mine though :-) (you get to see Las Vegas next chapter, well so to speak ;-) ) but I'm so glad you like it :-)

**Transgenic-girl** - hello darlin', lol I'm a GSR girl, but funny enough half of my CSI stories don't have them ending up together (weird I know). I can see Nick and Sara together though ;-) Mostly I'm just a Sara fan lol. But I'm happy you like the story :-) and I know, I was like hmm Sara and Nigel.. when the idea first popped into my head. But I love them together :-)

**Samson** - Glad to hear you like it love :-)

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Please please review :-D 


	6. Chapter 5

hey guys,

just to let you know, if you go to my homepage (under my profile of course), and click on Once In A Lifetime. On the next page is two links, one to the story (which led last week to the chapter with the lyrics lol); the other is "Sara's Scrapbook", which is mentioned in this chapter. Currently the first few pages are up where you can see them if you like, a wedding page from England, and pictures of Rose... More pages will be added by the time this story is complete. Just wanted to spread the word in case anyone is interested :-)

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**:-:-:-:-:-:  
Chapter 5  
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**Saturday July 1st, 2006  
****Las Vegas, Nevada  
****Montecito Hotel  
****Penthouse Suite  
****9:25 a.m. (PST)**

**:-:-:-:-:-:**

As Sara had figured, it hadn't taken long for the 'team' to find out about Rose - Catherine overheard her talking to Jordan on her third day at work asking how Rose was. From there it had pretty much snowballed that by the end of shift, everyone in the lab knew that Sara had a daughter besides being married and expecting twins. There were times Sara swore they were all in high school or something the way the gossip traveled in this place. Two days later when she was packing up in the locker room, she'd been cornered by the entire team minus Grissom, informing her they were buying breakfast for her, Jordan, and Lily. In other words, they were going to see the Sidle child if it was the last thing they did.

Sara had shaken her head, and called everyone to give them a head's up. Nigel, Bug, and Garret had arrived the day before and the group had moved from the Luxor where the three women had stayed, to the Montecito. Lily had always wanted to stay at the Luxor, hence the reason they were there the first week. Because of past friendships with the staff at the Montecito, and the fact Jordan and everyone had helped them with a few cases before the Las Vegas police were called in, they offered the group a wonderful rate. And it was kinda nice in Sara's mind, staying at a hotel that she had never been called to process. It was a very rare occurrence to get a call to the Montecito for any CSIs.

Grissom was grabbed just as he was unlocking his car, and now, twenty minutes later, they were gathered in the penthouse suite at the Montecito, introductions were made by the others as Sara slipped into her and Nigel's room to find him changing Rose. Changing her own clothes, she took Rose from him before they returned to the sitting room to find Jordan explaining how they managed to get the penthouse suite.

Everyone loved Rose as she was passed from person to person, Nigel pulling Sara to sit at one of the couches with him. Both of them watching Grissom discreetly, especially when Catherine placed Rose in his arms. While Rose was being held, orders to room service were placed, and once Catherine had placed Rose in Grissom's possession, she turned to Sara with a wicked glint in her eyes.

"So, now that we've finally met her, details would be nice."

Glancing up at Nigel as he chuckled behind her, Sara reached up and smacked the back of his head lightly before the other members of their group from Boston laughed. Turning her attention back to the CSIs she smiled softly, "She was born in January, has duel citizenship since she was born in London…"

"You never did explain; why were you in England so long?" Greg asked just as they heard a knock on the door.

Once breakfast was distributed, and Rose was back with Sara, Nigel having quickly fixed a small cup of Rose's own cereal with fruit, the questions began once more. Immediately going back to why she was in England for so long.

"I learned I was pregnant when I was in London, my doctors also forbid me to fly until after Rose was born, it was too much a risk. So… we stayed."

"Wouldn't that have put you back in Boston at the earliest around February… what took so long to come back here?" Catherine asked curious.

"Actually we were waiting for my green card to be approved," Nigel spoke up. "I had to go back to England because my visa ran out, Sara came with me with the intent to return to Vegas when her LOA was up, until she was informed she wouldn't receive clearance from her doctor and no airline would let her fly without it."

"Well that's just joyful," Catherine rolled her eyes.

"So, back to baby info," Greg continued. "What's the cutie's name?"

"You mean besides Rose?" Jordan chuckled.

"Well of course," Greg agreed.

"Gillian Rose Garnet," Sara answered before pulling the spoon away from Rose just as she reached out to hit it. "And I think she just decided she was done eating."

"Garnet? Like the stone?" Warrick asked as while Sara set aside the cereal and cleaned Rose up.

"Yes, I doubt any of you know this, but my middle name is Opal, my brother's middle name was Moonstone. It was Nigel's idea to continue the tradition as it were with Rose. She has a two part first name as it's another tradition from my family as well," Sara explained.

"Oh? What's your first name?" Nick asked curious, they had never knew it was anything other than Sara…

"Sara Lynn. My brother was Andrew Evan, my mother's first name is Laura Ann. It comes from mom's side of the family."

"Interesting. Were the gemstones from a certain part of the family?"

"Nah, that started with Andy and me," Sara answered Warrick's question.

"Cool."

"Here, give me Poppin so you can eat," Nigel instructed before Sara handed Rose to him.

"So what's London like?" Nick asked as Sara turned to her breakfast.

"Lovely," Sara smiled. "I actually have a photo album around here somewhere… I'm working on it in my spare time to get it completed before the twins come."

"I got it," Lily spoke up as she produced the scrapbook and passed it to the CSIs.

"When did you two first meet?" Greg asked when he saw a picture of what must have been Sara in her early twenties with Nigel. Her hair was much longer than now, almost waist length…

"Good God… how long has it been now?" Sara asked glancing at Nigel "Fourteen… fifteen years… something like that…"

"About fifteen and a half," Nigel nodded.

"Ahh, so you two had a prior relationship?" Catherine asked as they continued to look at the pictures.

"Not initially, we were friends at first, I was in a relationship when we met," Sara shrugged.

"Bloody bastard," Nigel muttered.

"I'm going to seriously hurt you if my daughter's next word is either bloody or bastard Nigel Townsend," Sara warned.

"Sorry love," he answered sheepishly. "But he was," he added.

"I'm not disputing that," Sara rolled her eyes.

"Do we ask?" Nick questioned.

"Ken and I were together all of my Sophomore year and part of my Junior. He was a year ahead of me, BMOC… Organic Chem T.A," Sara began shaking her head. "Spring Break 92 we flew down to Miami, when I caught him in bed with two women I ended it."

"What?" Catherine asked shocked.

"Oh that was seriously wrong," Greg shook his head.

Sara shrugged, "The sisters he was with weren't happy either when they found out he was in a relationship," she smiled. "Nigel came down and drove me back home. A few months later we started dating. Was a year, then I got my scholarship to Berkley and this one practically pushed me on the plane," Sara chuckled.

"What? I wasn't going to let you pass up an opportunity like that just because of me," Nigel countered with a smile.

"I remember that," Jordan laughed. "We had to drag his butt out of the morgue, and poor Garret was ready to kill him because he kept playing all this really depressing music."

"Wait, that was because you left?" Garret asked looking at Sara. "I'm beyond glad that you didn't leave again I think we would have had an extra body in the crypt if he started that again."

"You wouldn't hurt me Dr. M," Nigel countered with a grin. In response Garret merely raised one eyebrow.

"I wouldn't push him babe," Sara chuckled.

"Oh! Wedding pictures!" Catherine cried suddenly gathering everyone's attention to the scrapbook. "Why does it look like you got married in the air?"

Everyone who was at the wedding laughed hearing her question, "We were married on the London Eye," Sara explained when she caught her breath. "135 meters up."

"Whoa, cool wedding," Greg grinned. "So where was the reception? Not in a hot air balloon I hope…"

"I think my Aunt would have killed us," Nigel laughed.

"We had the reception down at the Swan Star, our local pub. Mac insisted on making everything. There's pictures from the reception as well," Sara explained before Catherine turned the page and found them.

"So who's who?" Warrick asked.

"Aunt Bea's the one in the black suit," Nigel began.

"In the group shot, Angie is on Bea's left, her husband Charles is next to her and in front of them are Charlie and Becca. Bea's right is her middle child James, his wife Eliza and he's holding their son Arti. Obviously Nige and I are sitting on the chairs, and to my right standing a bit in front of her brother is Bea's youngest, Anne Marie."

"The two caught arguing in a picture are Mac and his ex-wife Abby, she owns the sewing shop next to Bea's Teas. Ol' Timothy is another of the group as it were, he's the one trying to give Sara a wedding kiss," Nigel chuckled.

"Wedding kiss?" Greg asked, "Ok, that's it, I need to move to London if that's a tradition or something."

"That's just Ol' Timothy," Sara laughed. "He's a sweetheart, and it became a running joke that he was trying to get me to leave Nige and run away with him."

"Interesting…" Catherine nodded. "Why does your cake have a motorcycle as part of the cake top?"

"Because my husband is a biker," Sara answered without missing a beat.

"A Brit biker who works as a medical examiner in Boston… Is there anything else we should know about you?"

"I'm a complete utter nut according to those I work with, part-time fashion designer, paranormal fanatic, I believe in Vampires and Aliens… I'm a doctor, was in the military, can be classified as a Goth, and otherwise just a weird bloke," Nigel answered Catherine's question.

"Yes, I married the world's most eccentric man," Sara chuckled seeing the looks of disbelief on the CSIs' faces.

"We noticed," Nick laughed.

"I'm going to put her to bed," Sara smiled when she noticed Rose was sound asleep. "Be right back," she added as she took Rose before heading towards their room. While she was gone, Catherine found the baby pictures. When she returned, Sara walked over and sat down next to Nigel before looking up at him.

"Oh no, I know that expression…" Nigel began. "I'm not going to go hunt down a Subway unless you give me directions," he added with a smile.

"Subway?" Jordan asked confused.

"I made more late night runs to the 24-hour Subway when she started craving those things, it was almost an nightly occurrence…" Nigel chuckled.

"Relax, I'm not craving Subway."

"Sweet Nancy! It's a miracle!" Nigel grinned as he crossed himself. "Wait… what are you craving?" he asked looking back at her concerned.

"Fish and Chips from Tommy's," Sara sighed. "Babe…"

"No way, I love you dearly but I'm not flying to London to get you Fish and Chips from the Chippie. My Aunt would kill me for not bringing you and your doctors would kill me for bringing you…" Nigel argued.

"Damn," Sara sighed.

"Good fish and chips?" Grissom asked curious.

"Oh the best… Tommy's one of the few who still uses newspaper. I don't use malt vinegar like this one does, I have lemon on mine. You don't use tarter sauce though, that's just wrong…" Sara sighed before glancing up at Nigel once more.

"Oh for the love of God… I'm not going to London, but if you can wait 24-hours I'll get some for you," he shook his head.

"You are so whipped Nige," Jordan laughed.

"And quite happy about it," Nigel smirked before rising. "While I'm placing an order over 5,000 miles away, is there anything else I should get?"

"Oooh, Mac's Cornish Pastie," Sara began as he made his way towards their bedroom. "And Hotpot… oh and Parkin … oh Lamb Henry… Steak and Guinness Pie…"

Nigel popped his head back out of the room and looked towards her before shaking his head. "Why don't I just see if he can send one of everything on the menu while I'm at it?"

"You get Black Pudding or Steak and Kidney Pie and I'll ring your neck!" Sara shot back. "And don't you dare order the Cholesterol Special Nigel Eames Townsend!" she called after him when he disappeared from sight.

"Cholesterol Special?" Grissom repeated

"Oh God, I swear it is made simply to raise your cholesterol ten points," Sara rolled her eyes, "You get your choice of home cooked ham or a Lincolnshire sausage, with a fried egg, chips and peas or beans. My dear husband prefers it with sausage and beans…" she continued shaking her head.

"This is also the only man I know other than Bug, who actually eats a traditional English breakfast," Lily shook her head. "I still wonder how it is he is so thin after watching him eat that every morning we were in England…"

"I saw him order a traditional breakfast every day for six months, you think he would have gained as much weight as I did from being pregnant but he didn't," Sara shook her head.

"Fast metabolism," Nigel answered as he walked back into the room. "James and Angie have it too." He continued as he joined Sara on the couch. "And, you'll be happy to know Mac is going to overnight ship one order of everything on the menu, except for Black Pudding, Steak and Kidney Pie, and the Cholesterol Special for me because he doesn't want to give you more reason for morning sickness or to kill him. And as luck would have it, the family was there for supper, and found out you were craving foods from home, so Aunt Bea is sending enough tea to serve a small army and an electric kettle, along with a few jars of her preserves, clotted cream and fresh scones, all we need to do is find a toaster oven for heating them. Her words, not mine. Eliza is also planning to make all your favorite cakes and pies and send them, and Abby said to tell you she's going to send along a few outfits for Rose and will go bug Tommy for your fish and chips."

"I love your family," Sara sighed happily.

"Just how much food is going to be coming?" Greg asked shaking his head.

"Enough to feed a small army," Sara chuckled. "Want to do brunch tomorrow?"

"Sure, can I bring Lindsey?" Catherine asked.

"Why not, we'll invite Jim too. That is if you guys don't mind," Sara asked glancing at those from Boston."

"Not at all, gives me a chance to talk with Dr. Grissom," Bug smiled.

"Oh God, more insect talk," Jordan groaned.

"You'll survive," Lily laughed.

"Well then, we should probably all get home to get some sleep as is," Grissom began after a moment.

"And we need to go find some electric appliances," Lily grinned.

"Suddenly I'm very scared…" Jordan shook her head as the CSIs gathered their things to leave.

"That makes two of us," Garret agreed.

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**Monday July 24th, 2006  
****Las Vegas, Nevada  
****LVPD Crime Lab  
****Break Room  
****10:45 a.m. (PST)**

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The Las Vegas gang's introduction to all foods English went rather well, that is until Josh Duhamel arrived bearing a gift of alcohol for the group, Sara's greatest enemy when it came to morning sickness, and she found herself in the bathroom. The poor man returned a few minutes later trying to make amends with fresh strawberries and cream knowing Sara enjoyed them a few days earlier, but by then she had entered morning sickness phase and the sight of food had her back in the bathroom. When she had returned from the second trip and collapsed on the couch with her head in Nigel's lap, she'd been ready to not move again any time soon… only to have Ecklie of all people show up. He'd heard the best people from the Boston Coroner's Office were in town and wanted to try and see if he could persuade any of them to stay in Vegas. When the knock had sounded at the door, Sara had raised her head enough to say 'if it's that man again with food… no jury in the world would convict me'… Nigel had to keep her from attacking Ecklie on her way to the bathroom for a third trip when he came bearing a fruit basket.

Everyone departed after that, and with the knowledge about not letting Sara smell alcohol anytime in the near future, her morning sickness never became a problem again. Independence Day she had off and spent with the gang from Boston, watching the Las Vegas festivities from their suite and watching the Boston Pops on TV, Jordan producing her guitar once more as was now tradition she claimed. The next day, Bug, Garret, Lily and Jordan flew home, and Sara, Nigel and Rose moved to a smaller suite in the Montecito.

The next three weeks passed all too quickly it seemed at times, and far to slow at others. Sara worked weekdays, having the weekends off, and spent time with the team. Grissom was often found visiting the Townsend suite and Sara laughed when both men were surprised to find they got along quite well for all their personality differences and the fact Nigel had won Sara as it were. Around Sara's third week, Catherine had confronted Grissom to see if he knew Rose was his, she'd known since the day she first saw Rose… she'd been his friend for over ten years… she'd recognize his eyes anywhere. After that, the rest of the team had been told, and both Sara and Nigel agreed that it was very likely Grissom was going to be a part of his daughter's life. Especially when Rose added Dada to her previous repertoire of Mum and Pop… as best they could figure Pop was her name for Nigel since he always called her Poppin.

Finally though, Sara's four weeks were up, and it was time for them to return to Boston so they could have Nigel there for work on Friday. The team had insisted on a going away party, and Sara had just shaken her head and agreed when Nigel pointed out she had to have one. Which was why they were at the lab, the day they were suppose to start driving back across country in Jordan's car.

"Hey," Grissom spoke drawing her attention from her thoughts as he sat down next to her, taking Rose from her lap.

"Hey back," Sara smiled as her daughter reached up to tug on her father's beard.

"So you're leaving…"

"Yup," Sara nodded.

"So how we going to do this?" he asked and Sara grinned.

"Well, I had figured that maybe you can come visit us in Boston, and we'll come visit here after the twins are born and I can fly again until she's in school at least. Then I figure she can come out and spend a month or so in the summer and we can figure out holidays. I'll fly with her when she's younger or maybe you can fly to Boston then bring her back and I'll fly out here to take her home or something. But we have time to figure that out after all."

"That we do…" he agreed as he brushed a brown ringlet from Rose's forehead. "You know, every now and again I'll wonder how things might be if I hadn't left that morning. But then I see you with Nigel… he's a good man Sara. He's better for you than I ever was. I'm happy for you.

"Thank you," Sara smiled. "You know, I think there's someone out there for you too, just give it time. Give love a chance okay?"

"I'll think about it," he nodded as Nigel walked over to join them.

"Time to go?" Sara asked with a smile.

"We should love," he agreed before helping her stand. "Want to carry her out old man?" he asked Grissom with a smile. Grissom just shook his head at Nigel's nickname for him.

Goodbyes were said, and threats on lives were given if Sara even dreamed about not keeping in contact, and soon the three were walking out to Jordan's car. Grissom strapped Rose into her car seat before shutting the door and looking at Sara and Nigel.

"Take care of yourself Gil," Sara smiled before hugging him.

"You too," Grissom smiled, "Take care of her."

"Always," Sara promised before walking around to her side of the car.

"Take care of them both," he added looking at Nigel.

"Always," Nigel promised before offering his hand. "We'll see you soon no doubt."

"Probably," Grissom smiled before stepping back and letting Nigel get in the car. Watching them leave, he smiled before turning to look at Catherine, he'd recognize her perfume anywhere.

"You okay?" she asked softly.

"Yeah, I am," he smiled. "Come on, we have to get everything cleaned up and get some sleep before shift."

"You're one of a kind Gilbert Grissom," Catherine laughed as they turned and headed back into the lab.

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Reader Responses:

Daynaa - hey love:-) glad you liked it :-) and glad you liked the ABBA stuff, I had a blast with that :-) (I know weren't they so cute?) :-)

Spikes-storm - hi sweetheart :-) me so happy you love it :-D updates are only once a week though ;-)

Transgenic-girl - true honey, but -shrug- maybe it's the part of me that likes to believe in fairytales and dreams coming true -shrug- but I do enjoy a good Sara/Nick story too so... G/S is just my first love ;-)

Future Miss CSI60 - hello darlin', welcome to the group :-) lol glad you are liking it :-) and thank you for NSDS ;-) lol so you survived S/W and you think you can survive this one... hmm maybe you shouldn't read my new story that I'm doing with my sister... (she was the co-author on NSDS and RH ;-) ) oh well :-) Enjoy the rest :-D

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Please review:-)


	7. Epilogue

Hey everyone,

First, I am **SO** very sorry for not having updated in all this time. We ended up moving rather unexpectedly - well we had been looking for months but everything happened very quickly and this is the first time I've been back and able to update.

Happy thought though, as an apology I have completed Sara's Scrapbook, it's a bit different set up than the first few pages- I had to change servers for the scrapbook pages... they were overloading Geocities -sigh- But they are complete, and you can still get to them the same way, by going to my homepage and following the link for Once In A Lifetime.

And, thank you to my dear dear beta reader and friend Caro - we have a banner :-D Let me know what you think of it so I can pass the news on to her :-)

Please let me know if you liked it in the end, any reviews will make dealing with a leak in the floor so much more easier to deal with:-)

Love to everyone for reading in the first place.

and to my dear Caro.

Isa

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Epilogue  
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**Friday June 21st, 2024  
****Brookline, Massachusetts  
****Townsend House  
****5:48 p.m. (EST)**

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Smiling, Sara looked around the living room at everyone gathered there. It was the first time the family had all been together. And of course there was no better reason than the graduation of all three of her children… It seemed a lifetime ago that she had left Vegas for the final time… And they'd had so many changes in the years since.

She and Nigel had moved out of Boston when the children were young, they chose Brookline because it was close to work for them both, Boston actually surrounding the city. They had found a Colonial House built in 1914, more than enough bedrooms for the children to each have one, and for Grissom to have one when he visited. She never expected to have a house as big as they did, twelve rooms in all, but now she couldn't imagine living anywhere else. They had a stable on the almost five acres, home to Rose's horse Ebony, and Nadia's horse Starlight. She had watched her children grow and thrive there.

Rose was eighteen now, and only a matter of hours before had graduated from high school with her siblings. She kept her brown ringlets short, ending at her shoulders, and was five-eight. She had been riding and competing for years, and even did Cheerleading when she was in High School. Come fall she'd be headed to Harvard like her mother, a scholarship, she intended to study law.

Ravi Aiden Topaz and Chandra Nadia Sapphire had been born December 14th of '06. Ravi had his father's hair, though he kept his short, with her curl. He also had his father's hazel eyes and was six-two. He had played football and basketball in high school, along with his studies, and was headed to MIT. Nadia meanwhile had her mother's hair, even with curls. She kept it long, ending at her waist, and had her father's eyes. Like her twin, she took after Nigel's height more than Sara's, 5'11". She had been a gymnast as long as possible before turning her attention solely to competing in jumping competitions with her own horse. She was on her way to Harvard as well, intending to study medicine.

Across the room, Sara spotted Rose with her father and stepsister and smiled. Grissom had listened to her so long ago, and it only ended up taking four years for Catherine to make him realize what was right in front of them. They'd married in 2010, and Grissom had retired only a few years earlier, leaving Catherine in charge of the night shift. Lindsey had gone to the University of Hawaii after finishing high school, and there she met Tomas Iokua. They lived in Honolulu now, she a counselor and he a Pharmacist. Their eldest Korey was five; he was counting the days until he could start Kindergarten. Diana was three.

Warrick was next in line for the role of Night shift supervisor when Catherine retired; she planned to retire at sixty-five like Grissom had. Warrick and Tina had a daughter not long after Ravi and Nadia were born, Mary had just finished her Junior year, and hoped to go to Juliard when she graduated. She played piano like her father.

Nick had married as well; Carolyn had been a psych major when they met. They had two children, Rick was ten, and Tony was seven. Nick and his family had left Vegas years ago; he'd been offered his own supervisor position in Chicago. Greg as well had married, though he had stayed in Vegas, was a level three now. He actually married Judy, a bit of a surprise but a welcomed one. Their daughter Anya was six. The only one missing from Vegas was Jim, he was killed in the line of duty thirteen-years-earlier.

Looking away from the gathering of CSIs, Sara spotted Jordan shaking her head at something her son had said. Jordan was head ME now, Garret retired a few years prior to spend time with his grandchildren, Abby had a boy and girl, Andrea was fourteen, Stephan nine. Garret's namesake was thirteen, Jordan's surprise fourteen years earlier. She had been in a relationship, another of her ones not planned for long term. Woody had long since returned to Wisconsin. The shock of a lifetime came when Sara found Jordan's latest guy on her table, when Jordan found out she was pregnant two months later, everything got completely turned upside down. Max had just finished eight grade and was counting down the days until he finished high school and get away from his mother. He took after Jordan too much for them to actually get along during his teenage years.

Bug and Lily had married as well, back in '08. They had two children, Ken was fifteen, Corinna was thirteen. It was no secret among the adults that Corinna had a crush on Max, she'd had one since she was four. They had reached the point they just waited to see what would happen.

Then there was the family from England, Bea had died just over four-years before. But the rest of the family had come. Angie had the shop now, Becca working as manager while she finished college. Charles still worked as a barrister; Charlie as well just passed their equivalent of the bar. Charlie had married four-years-earlier, only to loose his wife the next year in a car accident. He was still dealing with it, but the family made sure he didn't let depression take him. James had risen in ranks, and was in line to become an Assistant Commissioner like his father. Eliza had finished her studies years ago and now worked as a Biochemist, they had a daughter a year after the twins were born. Artie was twenty now, his sister Sharla was fourteen – though she preferred her middle name Evelyne and even more preferred to be called Evie. The last in the family was Anne Marie. She had gone to Oxford like she planned, and worked as a Chemist in Manchester. She'd married Nathan Hutchinson a decade ago, he was in the Navy. Their eldest, Nate was eight, and the twins were five. Beatrice was named after her grandmother, Josephine after her other grandmother.

"Sara Lynn," Looking up at the sound of her name Sara smiled when she saw her husband looking down at her. "You look like you're ten thousand miles away," Nigel added as he sat down next to her.

"You start singing that song I'll smack you," she countered with a smile.

"You loved it when I sang it at our wedding," Nigel grinned.

"That was nearly twenty years ago… I'm not going to help every child in the room in their belief that we are old by you singing a song from before even Anne Marie and Lindsey were born, let alone their husbands."

"Bloody spoil sport," Nigel muttered. "So what did have the deputy chief medical examiner somewhere other than the party?"

"Just thinking," Sara smiled as she reached up to brush a lock of Nigel's once black hair behind his ear. They had had an accident years before, she and Nige had been driving home from work when they were blind sided. She'd lost their last child that night, never having gone through with her threats of fixing Nigel and herself after the twins were born. They had thought for sure they were going to loose him as well. He'd been in a coma for a few weeks, and the doctors had shaved his hair. After he woke up, they had been surprised to find his hair grow back in white rather than the color it was before. Much to the amusement of everyone at the morgue. It was back to the length he always wore it, and with her own hair starting to show her age… they couldn't deny they were getting old.

"You've been doing that a lot lately… Not thinking you made a mistake are you love?"

"Nigel Eames Townsend!" she reached back and smacked the back of his head loud enough for everyone to hear.

"Ow… bloody hell Sara Lynn…." He muttered as he reached back to rub his head and everyone just shook their heads and went back to their conversations, except for the three new graduates who made their way across the room.

"What did Pop do now?" Rose asked with a smile.

"He asked if I was thinking I made a mistake," Sara answered with a huff. "Smack your father for me."

"Fair enough," Ravi shrugged before reaching over to smack Nigel's head, only to have Nigel duck.

"I take it from your mother, I'm not taking it from the rest of you hellions," Nigel grumbled only to have Sara smack his skull once more. "Sweet Nancy woman, are you trying to give me a concussion?"

"Don't call my children hellions," Sara countered.

"Yeah, we're angels," Nadia grinned. Sara looked up at her youngest skeptically and Nadia rolled her eyes. "Okay so _most_ of the time we're angels……. Alright alright, we're not quite angelic okay mum?" she asked seeing Sara's other eyebrow raise. "I think I'm going to go back to talking with Aunt Lily now…" she continued before slipping away.

"Dad's waving at me, be back later," Rose smiled before disappearing as well.

"They're dropping like flies," Nigel mused.

"We just know better than to be around you two when mum is knocking some sense into you," Ravi grinned. "Cheers dad, and I'd keep my mouth shut if I were you."

"How did we raise such smart alec children?" Sara asked glancing back at her husband.

"I have no bloody clue…"

"Oh that was a horrible way of trying to play innocent," Sara chuckled. "And no, I'm not thinking I made a mistake, you should know better," she added as she let her head rest on his shoulder.

"Good to be reminded every now and again," Nigel smirked. "Still say he was a bloody fool for letting you go."

"Which one? Grissom or Ken?" Sara asked with a smile

"Both, though I only wanted to kill Ken," Nigel sighed. "Dance with me Cinderella?" he asked after a moment.

"You haven't called me that in years," Sara smiled. "Why do I think you're up to something?"

"Because you know me so well," he countered before rising and helping her to her feet.

"They're going to notice we're gone…" Sara laughed as they slipped upstairs.

"Not for an hour at least, everyone's lost in their own conversations," Nigel smirked before leading her to the balcony.

"Ok, what are we doing here?" she asked with a smile.

"I seem to remember you asking once, where I got the poem for the note I left you nineteen-years-ago."

"And you never did answer," Sara countered with a smile.

"Was waiting for a special occasion," Nigel smiled before a piano began to play from the stereo system in their bedroom.

"This has to be about as special as they get then," Sara laughed as he pulled her into his arms.

"Love you Sara Lynn."

"Love you too Nigel."

_**From the moment I saw you  
**__**From the moment I looked into your eyes  
**__**There was something about you  
**__**I knew, I knew  
**__**That you were once in a lifetime  
**__**A treasure near impossible to find  
**__**And I know how lucky  
**__**I am to have you**_

_**Cause I've seen rainbows that could take your breath away  
**__**The beauty of the setting sun that ends a perfect day  
**__**And when it comes to shooting stars  
**__**I've seen a few  
**__**But I've never seen anything  
**__**As beautiful as you**_


End file.
